Types of Financial Elder Abuse
With age comes wisdom, experience, and, unfortunately, a target for scammers and financial criminals. Not only are older adults at a high risk of falling victim to a financial criminal, they also have a lot more to lose. Just as it is with any type of scam, recognizing the methods that financial criminals use to deceive and steal from older adults is an important first step in preventing financial elder abuse.
According to the National Council on Aging, the most common of these methods are:
- Government impersonation scams – scammers will call older adults and act as if they’re a representative from a government agency (usually the IRS, Social Security, or Medicare), and threaten the victim with legal action or worse if they don’t provide money or personal information.
- Sweepstakes and lottery scams – scammers will contact, usually by phone, their victim and inform them that they have won a prize but the only way to claim their reward is to send over money to cover fake taxes or fees. These scams can go on for months and years as the victim continually sends money in the hope of receiving a prize that will never come.
- Robocalls and phone scams – while most of us are familiar with scam calls about car warranties, these are more sinister. The scammer will ask a question such as “can you hear me?” and when the victim replies with “yes” or some other affirmative, the scammer will record their voice and hang up. From there, this recording can be used to authorize all sorts of charges and purchases.
- Technological support scams – these types of scams specifically take advantage of an older adult’s lack of knowledge about technology and cybersecurity. They will send a pop-up or email to the victim and claim that there is a critical issue while providing a number to fix it. Once the victim calls the scammer, the scammer will demand either payment or remote access to the victim’s computer.
- The grandparent scam – in this scam, a scammer will call an older adult and either claim to be one of their grandchildren or claim to be a police officer, doctor, or lawyer trying to help their grandchildren. From there, the scammer will ask for money while putting a lot of pressure on the victim to comply.
These methods aren’t solely used on older adults, although the grandparent scam might have some age restrictions, and understanding how they work goes a long way in preventing yourself and the older adults in your life from falling victim. Knowing the scammer’s playbook allows you to prevent them from taking advantage of you and stealing away your savings.
While social media scams, fraudulent emails, and pig butchering, or romance, scams, do sometimes target older adults, most scammers use a phone call as their entry point. From there, scammers use a variety of methods to scam older adults out of their savings.
These methods aren’t solely used on older adults, although the grandparent scam might have some age restrictions, and understanding how they work goes a long way in preventing yourself and the older adults in your life from falling victim. Knowing the scammer’s playbook allows you to prevent them from taking advantage of you and stealing away your savings.
For more information on financial elder abuse, visit our financial elder abuse center.