Scammers Target Seniors: Families urged to build safeguards before money is gone | #datingscams #romancescams

The telephone rings. The caller says a grandchild has been arrested and needs bail money.

Another caller claims to be a sheriff’s deputy and says there is a warrant for missing jury duty. Someone claiming to be from a bank warns that an account has been compromised and the money must immediately be moved somewhere “safe.”

A message on a computer says the machine has been hacked and provides a telephone number for technical support. Another person develops an online friendship or romantic relationship before an unexpected financial emergency arises.

The stories change, but the objective is the same: convince a victim to act before that person has time to stop, think and verify.

For older North Dakotans, the threat is increasingly serious.

The FBI reported that Americans over age 60 filed more than 201,000 internet-crime complaints during 2025 and reported losses exceeding $7.7 billion. That represented a 37% increase in complaints and a 59% increase in losses compared with 2024. The average reported loss among older victims exceeded $38,000, while at least 12,400 people reported losing $100,000 or more.

Those figures make elder fraud more than an internet-security problem. For some victims, a successful scam can erase retirement savings accumulated over decades.

Western North Dakota is not isolated from the schemes.

Watford City Police warned residents in 2024 about scam letters arriving at local addresses. The letters purported to come from businesses offering rewards for completing surveys and contained QR codes. Police warned residents not to scan the codes because they could expose personal or financial information.

McKenzie County residents have also previously encountered callers impersonating law enforcement. In one publicly reported case, the McKenzie County Sheriff’s Office warned residents that scammers were manipulating telephone numbers so calls appeared connected to the sheriff’s office while demanding money to prevent an arrest or investigation.

The technology behind that deception has become commonplace. The North Dakota Attorney General’s Office warns that caller identification cannot be trusted because scammers can “spoof” telephone numbers, including legitimate numbers with North Dakota’s 701 area code.

The McKenzie County Sheriff’s Office currently makes senior safety and security information available through its community SafePrint program and directs residents to its non-emergency dispatch line, 701-444-3654, when appropriate.

The North Dakota Court System issued another warning in May 2026 after a scam surfaced in Burleigh County. Recipients were sent an image claiming they had to pay a fine or appear in court.

The court system emphasized that North Dakota courts and local law enforcement agencies will not telephone someone and threaten arrest while demanding immediate payment for fines or an unanswered traffic citation.

That distinction can provide families with one of the simplest rules for protecting an older relative:

An unexpected demand for immediate money should stop the conversation, not start a transaction.

A person claiming to be a deputy, police officer, court employee, IRS agent, Social Security employee or other government official should have no objection to someone hanging up and independently contacting the agency.

A scammer usually does.

Another increasingly dangerous scheme begins with a frightening warning: Someone has supposedly hacked the victim’s bank account, Social Security number or computer.

The criminal then offers a solution. Move the money.

North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley warned residents in 2025 about scammers impersonating government agents and persuading victims to purchase gold bars supposedly to safeguard their assets. Criminals may provide fake government documents and ultimately instruct victims to turn the gold over to someone posing as an agent.

The FBI has documented similar schemes in which victims, many of them seniors, were instructed to liquidate assets into cash or precious metals. Criminals have even dispatched couriers to physically collect the money or gold.

The North Dakota Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division offers a remarkably simple warning: anyone instructing a person to withdraw money and buy gold bars, give cash to a courier, move money to “protect” it, purchase gift cards or go to a Bitcoin ATM should be treated as a scammer.

North Dakota regulators are now specifically warning about cryptocurrency ATMs.

In June, the North Dakota Department of Financial Institutions announced new educational resources after seeing increasing crypto-related fraud affecting state residents. According to the department, older adults, veterans and young adults appear to be frequent targets.

Scammers may claim a victim has an arrest warrant, owes money or has a family member in trouble and then direct the person to withdraw cash, take it to a cryptocurrency ATM and scan a QR code supplied by the criminal.

Once cryptocurrency is transferred, recovering it can be extraordinarily difficult.

North Dakota has responded with new protections. State requirements include a $2,000 daily transaction limit per customer at virtual-currency kiosks, required risk and fee disclosures, receipts, fraud-detection measures and live customer service availability.

But regulation cannot eliminate the most important vulnerability: a frightened person voluntarily following the scammer’s directions.

One of the cruelest schemes specifically exploits family relationships.

In the “grandparent scam,” a caller claims to be a grandchild who has been arrested, injured, stranded or involved in an accident. Another criminal may then come onto the telephone pretending to be an attorney, police officer or government official.

Artificial intelligence and increasingly sophisticated voice technology can make such calls more convincing than older versions of the scam.

The North Dakota Attorney General specifically advises older residents to contact another family member using a known telephone number before sending anything, regardless of how urgent the supposed emergency sounds.

Families can take that safeguard one step further by establishing a private family verification word or question.

If “your grandson” calls at 2 a.m. claiming to be in jail, asking something only the real family member should know can end the scam quickly.

And families should establish another rule in advance:

There is no family emergency so urgent that Grandma or Grandpa cannot hang up and call another relative first.

Romance scams can take months. Not every scam begins with a threat. Some begin with kindness.

Romance and confidence scams may unfold over weeks or months as a criminal builds an emotional relationship with the victim. Eventually there is an emergency, investment opportunity, medical expense, travel problem or other reason money is needed.

A federal North Dakota prosecution illustrates the financial consequences.

Two Maryland men were sentenced in federal court for participating in a romance-fraud scheme targeting elderly women. One defendant was ordered to pay $180,000 in restitution and another $50,000.

The Attorney General recommends that someone who suspects a romance scam stop communicating with the person and discuss the relationship with someone they trust. Family concerns about a new online relationship, particularly one involving requests for money, should not automatically be dismissed.

Another recent federal prosecution demonstrates how valuable basic identifying information can be.

In June 2026, a defendant was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison in a case involving theft from Individual Indian Money accounts belonging to MHA Nation tribal members. The broader scheme involved personal information including names, birth dates, Social Security information and tribal identification being used to impersonate account holders and obtain money.

For western North Dakota residents, including families on and around the Fort Berthold Reservation, the case is a reminder that identity information itself has monetary value.

A photograph of a Social Security card, identification card or financial document can sometimes provide criminals with enough information to begin impersonating someone.

Families often talk about fraud only after something suspicious happens.

A better approach is to establish safeguards while everyone is thinking clearly.

Older residents should consider having at least one trusted family member or adviser they agree to contact before making an unusual large withdrawal or transferring money to someone they have never met.

Family members should also talk openly about scams without making an older relative feel that accepting help means surrendering independence.

The objective is not to take control of someone’s finances. It is to introduce a second set of eyes when an unusual transaction occurs.

Banks and credit unions can also become part of that defense. Customers can ask what fraud alerts, transaction notifications, account controls and trusted-contact options are available.

Families should consider turning on alerts for large withdrawals, unusual credit-card transactions and account changes when the account holder wants those protections.

For seniors, and really everyone, several rules can stop a large percentage of scams:

Never send money because an unexpected caller demands it.

Never give a verification code or password to someone who called you.

Never allow an unexpected caller remote access to your computer or phone.

Never pay a government agency with gift cards, cryptocurrency or gold.

Never believe Caller ID by itself proves who is calling.

Never scan a QR code sent by a stranger telling you where to send money.

Never move money to a “safe account” at someone else’s direction.

Never keep a financial transaction secret because the caller tells you not to tell your family or bank.

Always hang up and independently call the organization using a number you already know or obtain from its official website, statement or card.

When in doubt, wait.

Legitimate businesses, banks and government agencies will still be there 10 minutes later.

Scammers are the ones who insist they will not.

Even trying to verify something online can lead to another trap.

The North Dakota Attorney General warned in 2025 that scammers purchase online advertisements designed to resemble legitimate businesses or government services. A person searching for a bank, airline, computer company or government agency can click the first result and unknowingly telephone a scammer.

Instead, consumers should use the telephone number printed on their bank card, statement or other trusted document or type a known official website address directly into the browser.

Embarrassment is one of a scammer’s greatest allies.

A victim who realizes what happened may hesitate to tell family members or police. That delay can give criminals more time to move the money.

Anyone who believes money has been fraudulently transferred should immediately contact the bank, credit union, credit-card company or other financial institution involved and ask whether the transaction can be stopped, recalled or frozen.

Then preserve everything: telephone numbers, text messages, emails, receipts, envelopes, cryptocurrency wallet information, QR codes, bank records and screenshots.

Report the incident to local law enforcement.

The North Dakota Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division can be reached at701-328-3404 or 1-800-472-2600 within North Dakota. (North Dakota Attorney General⁠)

Suspected internet fraud can also be reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. The FBI advises victims to contact their financial institutions immediately and provide investigators with as much information as possible. (FBI⁠)

One additional warning is important: victims can be targeted again.

Criminals sometimes pose as investigators or recovery companies claiming they can recover money lost in an earlier scam, for another fee. The FBI warns that its Internet Crime Complaint Center does not demand payment to recover lost funds or refer victims to companies that charge for recovery.

Fraud prevention does not require understanding every new scam.

The story will change. The technology will change. The person supposedly calling may change.

The underlying tactics remain remarkably consistent.

Create fear or excitement. Establish authority or trust. Demand secrecy. Manufacture urgency. Prevent the victim from talking to someone else. Then get the money somewhere it cannot easily be recovered.

That is why perhaps the most effective safeguard for an elderly parent, grandparent, neighbor or friend costs nothing.

Talk about it.

Establish a family rule now that any unusual request for money gets verified by another person before anyone pays.

Because when someone on the telephone says there is no time to call your son, daughter, bank, sheriff’s office or police department before sending thousands of dollars, that supposed urgency may be the strongest warning of all.

Stop. Hang up. Verify.