According to a recent AARP study, nine out of 10 US adults over 50 use social media, and texting is now the leading form of communication for that demographic. The numbers show that many older adults are very comfortable interacting online, making them prime targets for online scams.
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To learn more about the types of scams affecting seniors, I spoke with Al Pascual, the chief executive officer and co-founder at Scamnetic, an online scam protection provider. He told me that thanks to the array of inexpensive or free AI tools available online, scammers can automate a lot of the scamming process without writing a single line of code.
“There are services that use AI to automate the engagement with the victim,” explained Pascual. “So it’s not even that you have to have someone at a call center in Asia doing the work.”
Pascual mentioned that while online scams cost people over 60 $28.3 billion in annual losses, two types are the main culprits: romance scams and investment scams.
“These are the exact kinds of scams that prey on older people, ” Pascual said. “They have investable assets. A lot of the romance scams turn into investment scams, too, targeting crypto and foreign exchanges.”
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I also discussed ways to protect elders and other vulnerable people from scams with Jessica Johnston, senior director at the National Council on Aging’s (NCOA) Center for Economic Well-Being. The following six tips can’t guarantee protection, but they’re a step in the right direction for you and your loved ones.
1. Listen and Build Trust
If you think your loved one is communicating with a scammer or is in the process of being scammed, take time to listen to what happened before you rush to judgment. “Allow them to tell their story and really hear and understand what they’re going through,” said Johnston.
Afterward, ask the person if they even want your assistance. Remember, you can’t help someone who doesn’t want help, and it’s important to respect their personal agency. If they accept your help, gather all the hard data you can, like screenshots of emails, financial documents, and text messages, and use it to report the incident to the authorities (more on this later). Make sure your loved one is as involved in the process as they want to be, and resist the temptation to do it all for them or to make them uncomfortable just to get back at a scammer.
2. Remember, There’s No Hurry to Respond
Scammers love nothing more than scaring someone into acting against their best interests, and to do so, they often use threats or promises of time-sensitive financial gains. With that in mind, embrace the power of silence. When dealing with a possible scammer, the best action is usually inaction. Encourage your loved one not to respond to calls or messages from unknown phone numbers, or better yet, to block them entirely. In most cases, the fraudster loses interest and moves on to the next victim quicker than you can say, “Limited-time opportunity.”
Johnston’s suggestion for combating these urgent-sounding threats is to offer yourself as a trusted person to whom the older person can talk about a possible scam. Offer to let them forward you the messages or emails the scammer sends them so you can review them before they do anything. That way, you can help them verify who is contacting them and why.
Similarly, if you notice that your loved one is deep into what looks like a romance scam or a crypto fiasco, don’t be surprised if they react negatively when you voice your suspicions. Instead, encourage them to get a second opinion from a peer, online or in person. If that’s not enough, involve the experts. Law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, as well as local senior centers, community groups, and organizations like AARP, often conduct outreach specifically to seniors to help them avoid scams. Sometimes, it takes more than one person to change someone’s mind.
It’s natural for our social circles to shrink as we age, but that doesn’t mean we are helpless or alone, and scammers love targeting lonely people. Johnston recommended that you take your loved one to scam-prevention events at local senior centers.
For immediate scam-spotting assistance, you can call the AARP’s Fraud Watch helpline. It’s free for everyone, and you’ll receive support from trained professionals. For online assistance, Johnston’s organization, NCOA, has a comprehensive scam prevention section on its website.
4. Stay in Touch, but Don’t Hover
None of the experts I interviewed for this article thought that using monitoring software to keep an eye on older relatives online is helpful. “I would never recommend surveilling someone without them knowing it,” said Johnston. “That is certainly not a great way to build trust with someone that you’re trying to care for.”
Instead, she recommends using video conferencing apps to check in regularly with loved ones and get some face time. Ask questions about their online activities and friendships. Stay clued in to their online lives so you can spot the signs of a scam and help them avoid it before it leads to financial (or personal) devastation.
If your loved one has cognitive issues or is facing other circumstances that may impair their judgment, get their consent before monitoring any of their devices. All major mobile device manufacturers offer basic parental control settings or add-ons. These can work for situations like this.
You should also encourage your older family members to use antivirus software with built-in phishing detection. This software will send alerts whenever it encounters insecure websites or if the person clicks on possible phishing links.
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Google rolled out scam-prevention measures for its Android messaging service, so everyone will get alerts when a text message looks suspicious. Ask your older loved ones to tell you whenever they receive these alerts, and make sure you both know how to block spam messages and phone numbers on all devices.
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6. Invest in Scam Protection Software
If you or someone you love does fall victim to a scammer, report the incident to law enforcement promptly and seek recovery assistance from the affected banks and services. Doing so may feel awkward, given the stigma around admitting you’ve been scammed, especially to authorities. But keep in mind that doing so may help protect others from being scammed in the future, even if it doesn’t result in you or your loved one recovering what you’ve lost.
It’s also a good time to sign up for scam protection services. There are many more now than there were even a few years ago, and I’ve tested many of them. Here are some of the best scam detection and prevention services I’ve tried.
The Best Scam Protection Services
7. Consider Identity Theft Protection
We also test identity theft protection services, and many offer scam support and guarantees against financial losses due to identity theft. That means if your loved one gets scammed, they may be eligible for help from a real human to fix the damage and even cash to help them get back on their feet.
The best thing about identity theft protection services is that many of them don’t just watch to see if someone opens a bank account or takes out a loan in your loved one’s name; they also watch credit reports, check to see if you or your loved one’s passwords or personal data turn up on the dark web, and alert you immediately so you can head off future issues before they become urgent problems. Check out our list and sign up for a service that works best for you and the elder person in your life.
The Best Identity Theft Protection Services
8. Resist the Urge to Educate
Finally, caregivers or loved ones should approach potential scam victims with empathy rather than education. In fact, Pascual went so far as to say, “Education is not the most effective tool when it comes to security.” He explained that most people don’t want to be taught or talked down to, and put up walls of resistance.
Instead, use the power of storytelling to start a conversation with your loved ones about online scams. Here’s an example: “My best friend’s dad lost $10,000 after a scammer impersonated his grandson over the phone! It was wild. The family is trying to help him pay rent now. I heard that scammers are using AI to mimic people’s voices and demand ransom money, so my family and I created a code word we use whenever we’re suspicious.”
That little nugget of gossip is more likely to be effective than a cybersecurity lecture because it’s more relatable. If you don’t have a scam-victim friend or can’t make up a story on the fly, you can always send loved ones my educational yet relatable PCMag article about the trending scams in 2026.
About Our Expert
Kim Key
Senior Writer, Security
Experience
I review privacy tools like hardware security keys, password managers, private messaging apps, and ad-blocking software. I also report on online scams and offer advice to families and individuals about staying safe on the internet. Before joining PCMag, I wrote about tech and video games for CNN, Fanbyte, Mashable, The New York Times, and TechRadar. I also worked at CNN International, where I did field producing and reporting on sports that are popular with worldwide audiences.
In addition to the categories below, I exclusively cover ad blockers, authenticator apps, hardware security keys, and private messaging apps.
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