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How to Protect Seniors from Scams: Your 5 Step Guide

Financial scammers are continuously discovering new ways to target and attack potential victims. In 2021, The National Council on Aging found “92,371 older victims of fraud resulting in $1.7 billion in losses.” This number is only predicted to increase. So, how can you protect seniors from scams?

Whether the senior is an aging parent, relative, or friend, there are five steps you can take to help protect their sensitive information. You can also use these tips to teach your kids or even brush up your own skills on how to avoid a scam.

By learning how to protect seniors from scams, you can protect your loved ones from a devastating and costly loss. Let’s get into the five steps on how to protect elderly from scams!

Step 1: Understand the Most Common Elder Financial Scams

The first step to stopping a scam is to understand what tactics scammers use. More often than not, scammers rely on the same strategies to trick victims because they work. We’ll do a brief overview of the most common scams below. We encourage you to also read our article, “The Five Most Common Elder Financial Scams,” that goes more in depth.

1. Government impersonation scams: Scammers impersonate a government institution like the IRS, Social Security, or Medicaid. They often demand explicit things like personal identifying information and specific forms of payment.
   
   This way they can commit identity theft later on. Be aware of anyone calling from a government agency and never trust the phone number. Scammers can use special technology to change their zip codes.
   
   
2. Sweepstakes and lottery scams: Scammers impersonate well-known sweepstake organizations to gain access to your bank account or receive money. You can avoid fake prize, sweepstakes, and lottery scams by looking out for a “catch” to your winnings. In almost all cases, scammers will ask you for money or your bank account information to receive the prize. If you fall victim, you’ll lose your money, find out there is no prize, and they may continue to contact you in the future.
   
   
3. Robocalls, phone scams, and telemarketing: Scammers know that elderly individuals are more likely to bank or purchase over the phone. They also tend to impersonate a charity, family member, or some other trustworthy stranger to gain their victims trust. Watch out for anyone telling you that found a large sum of money, are your grandchild or any relative, and any charity calling for donations. It is best practice to end the phone call and reach out to a trusted friend or family member about the call. 
   
   
4. Internet fraud: Scammers don’t only attack victims over the phone. They also rely on email and internet browsers to trick older adults. This is because they know they’re probably not as tech-savvy and could more easily fall into their scheme. Watch out for any email that’s too good to be true and don’t trust any pop-ups on your computer.
   
   
5. New Scams: Elder fraud scams are always evolving. It’s important to keep learning about newer scams and how you can protect yourself from them. Newer scams include romance scams, COVID-19 scams, and investment scams.
   

Step 2: Recognize the Signs of a Scam

There are four common signs of a scam, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Use this printable PDF to recognize the common signs of a scam or follow these guidelines below:

1. Someone’s pretending to be an organization you know
2. Someone’s saying there’s a “problem” or “prize”
3. Someone’s pressuring you to act immediately
4. Someone’s asking you to pay in a specific way
5. Someone’s asking you for sensitive information like your social security number
   

Step 3: Before Acting Talk to Someone You Trust

Scammers will always pressure you to take immediate action before you think about what they’re asking you to do. Always take the time to call a loved one or trusted friend to talk about the call you received. For example, if someone says your grandchild is in jail and they need money, hang up the phone and call your grandchild or their parents. You can even develop a special code with your family members to verify a true emergency.

Step 4: Never Provide Your Personal Information

Always avoid giving your personal information to a stranger and strange/unexpected number. Instead, ask the caller to call back from a known number or another way to provide your information, e.g. a website or mailing address. If they give you a website or mail address, it still could be fraudulent. The best next step is to call the organization they were pretending to be to see if they really need this information or wait for an official piece of mail.

Step 5: Never Wire Money, Purchase Gift Cards, or Give Out Your Bank Account Information

Once you send out money, it’s very hard to get it back. That’s why it’s essential you never wire or transfer money, purchase gift cards, or give out your bank account information. You can always set up special protections for your loved ones that prohibits them from sending money from their accounts to other unrecognizable accounts. Your bank may even help you set up account restrictions in case of a potential scam. 

Additional Ways on How to Protect Seniors from Scams

The Federal Trade Commission has developed a robust guide on how to avoid a scam. Here, are the steps they recommend you and your loved ones take to avoid a potential attack.

• Scammers will ask you to pay: The Federal Trade Commission advises that you “never pay someone who insists you pay with cryptocurrency, a wire transfer service like Western Union, MoneyGram, peer to peer payment apps, or a gift card. And never deposit a check and send money back to someone.”
  
  
• Don’t provide your personal or financial information to untrustworthy people or organization: Avoid disclosing any private information and always try to verify the source calling. Honest organizations will reach out to you through secure lines and never pressure you to provide your personal information. When it comes to family and friends, try coming up with a code to verify it’s them. Remember: Never provide your Social Security, bank account, or credit card numbers.
  
  
• Block unwanted calls and text messages: If you receive phone calls or text messages from random people, solicitors, or people pretending to be an organization, do not say anything and immediately hang up. Then, you can proceed to block the number.
  

How to Report a Scam

What to do if your elderly parent is being scammed? If you were scammed or think that your loved one was scammed, tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. They can’t resolve your individual report, but they can tell you how to protect yourself. We also encourage you to report the scam to local authorities.

First New York Federal Credit Union Can Help

First New York Federal Credit Union’s highly-professional tellers can assist you if you think you or your loved one has been a part of a scam. We can help protect your or your parents by supporting you through the next steps.

If you’re unsure of a potential scam or need advice on how to protect seniors from scams, contact us. Call (518) 393-1326 or toll free at 800-734-7375, and press 2 to speak with a Member Service Specialist. Contact Center is available Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.