Everyone has been told not to share personal information with strangers or give money for a scenario that seems too good to be true. Yet during 2024, scammers stole $12.5 billion from Americans, according to the Federal Trade Commission. It actually is even worse, because some victims are just too embarrassed or ashamed and don’t report what happened and how much they lost.
We are all quite confident we would never fall for such obvious schemes, yet unfortunately, millions of people find themselves in deep financial trouble and without the money they had saved for their retirement or to pass onto their children when they are gone.
Are the scammers really that good or are we — especially older adults — simply that easy?
The good news is that the blame rests solely on the people who use the internet and other methods to obtain your money. Their goal is to get your money any way possible. When one scheme fails to work for them, they make some adjustments and try another way. And all too often, the illicit requests come when we are vulnerable, or just too polite or nice to think anyone would take our money.
It happened to one woman who simply clicked on a link in an email she received from the neighborhood site Nextdoor. Immediately, a message popped up that she had been compromised and had to call the phone number listed in bold. Partly because she was nervous, partly because she was under stress with her husband’s illness and partly because the message seemed like it was trying to be helpful, she followed the directions. In a short time, she gave them important personal information and called a brokerage firm, as they asked.
The helpful sounding person kept calling and asking for more information, which she provided. Unfortunately, she ended up losing about $100,000 of her and her husband’s hard-earned money and too ashamed to admit it to her daughter for a while.
Another person received a message on her computer that her McAfee computer security system needed to be upgraded. She knew McAfee was a real company, so she complied. She soon was purchasing gift cards and even mailed them a cashier’s check.
Both of these victims had careers and had raised children but still fell for basic scams and identity thefts. In other words, it can — and does — happen to anyone.
This Senior Resources Guide was written by the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington and is designed to help you avoid becoming a victim. As basic as some of the information will seem, just remember that you could be a victim, regardless of how many college degrees you have or how important you are at your office.
Intrusions can come via the telephone, computer, mail or even the front door. Clicking on internet links, shopping online, participating in social media questionnaires, banking online, responding to emails from strangers, and signing a contract for work from a random person who knocked on your front door are just some of the ways people are losing thousands of dollars and sometimes even their entire life savings.
“They are all serious threats to your wealth and your health,” Walter Houser, who volunteers with the Montgomery County Police Department’s Financial Crimes Section, said during a recent webinar for JCA.
Houser listed a few red flags that signal scamming is taking place. If the person at the front door or the phone is saying you must act immediately or the offer will slip away, beware. A reputable company won’t pressure you. This also goes for the scare tactic that this offer is good now or never.
If a caller tells you to follow instructions but adds that you can’t tell anyone you are doing so, that is a red flag. Hopefully that will be enough of a message for you to hang up the phone immediately. Stay away from anyone who asks you to pay in gift cards or gold coins or requires you to meet them in a shopping center parking lot.
Much of this advice may seem like common sense and something you would never do. But somehow it keeps happening, and the scammers are getting richer and richer.
In July 2025, a Brooklyn, New York, man was sentenced for scamming people out of several thousands of dollars in a gold bar scheme. He was charged for his role targeting an elderly Montgomery County, Maryland, couple.
The husband and wife received a text that notified them of suspected unauthorized account charges. The sender urged them to call a phone number, which the couple did, and was connected to the suspect who claimed to be a representative from the Federal Trade Commission. The couple sent a great deal of money before they realized they were being scammed and called the police.
Eventually the New York man was sentenced to serve two years and two months in prison for his part in the scheme.
The most important piece of advice if you are wondering if you are being scammed is, quite simply, if it seems too good to be true; it most likely is.
If you do think you are being trapped, before it gets too far, alert the authorities. Change your passwords frequently and keep them in a secure place not easily accessible to anyone but yourself or trusted loved ones. Keep track of passwords in a highly secure password manager or on a piece of paper that isn’t obvious. It is smart to utilize extra identification.
Most cell phones allow you to access your accounts through fingerprints or facial recognition. This will ensure that only the phone’s owner is using it.
Sometimes the scammers show up in person, ringing a doorbell and trying to sell you a home repair or just casing the home for a future heist. Don’t let them in. Don’t even spend time talking to them. If you need a new roof or a plumbing repair, hire someone who you took the time to check out. Ask friends for recommendations. Call someone you choose and take the time to find out how they can help you. Never be pressured or rushed.
In Montgomery County, door-to-door salespeople must obtain a license from the Department of Permitting Services. They must show their permit to you if you ask.
An installed camera enables you to see who is at the door. If you don’t recognize the person, don’t let them in or even open the door. Don’t listen to their script or believe that they happen to be in the neighborhood and can offer you a great deal if you sign up right now. If you do end up speaking with them, say you need to think it over and ask them to leave some information and a way to get back to them. Stress that you will contact them if you want their services and that they don’t have to reach out again.
There are all kinds of schemes designed to attract vulnerable people. Some attract lonely people looking for romance. Others go after older folks and pretend to be grandchildren in trouble and needing money. Take a step back and think, is your granddaughter even traveling in Europe now? What are the chances your relative chose you to make their only permissible call from jail?
Others may gain your confidence after you hired and paid for them for tech support or home improvements. Even a caregiver you hired for assistance can think of you as an easy target rather than someone who needs help.
Other questions to ask yourself — am I really so late in paying my utilities or mortgage that I am in imminent danger of having the lights and water shut off or being evicted? Surely, there would have been some earlier warnings.
Some scammers call with the “great” news that you won a vacation, the lottery or some other large prize. All you have to do is quickly send them money to pay taxes or some fee before they can release the winnings to you directly. It is important to know that this is not how real companies operate. Did you even buy a lottery ticket or chance for a prize? If not, how could you have won?
And if it is a governmental authority, rest assured, they do not call and demand immediate money. Utility shut offs, evictions, jail sentences all take time and never happen through a mere phone call.
The list of scamming opportunities is pretty endless, especially with so much of our information out there on the cloud. Online banking, shopping, contributions and other payments, no matter how careful you think you are, may be traced and are prime resources for people who want to steal your identity. And it isn’t just the computer, scammers are known to check your mailbox or delivered packages and even go dumpster diving, seeking identity information.
The best way to prevent garbage theft is to shred all pieces of paper that include private information like financial statements, bills, receipts and most importantly, your social security number.
No matter how careful you think you are, the scammers can quickly change their tactics and find yet another way to steal private information. After all, thanks to the internet, they easily can reach out to thousands upon thousands of people and still make a lot of money if they only scam a very, very small percentage of their targets.
Review your credit card and bank statement carefully on a regular basis. Call the credit card company or place of business if you did not use your card there or if the amount is different than what you spent. Check for small purchases of $5 or $10 that you never made. Thieves are testing to see if you are checking your monthly statement or if you are an easy mark.
According to AARP, card skimming, in which the criminal affixes a credit card reader on top of a legitimate card reader at a store or gas station to steal information, is estimated to cause up to $1 billion in losses annually. When you are paying at a gas station or other point-of-sale location, inspect the device for loose/broken/scratched machinery to make sure someone hasn’t tampered with it.
There is no need to carry all your cards, including banking, Social Security or Medicare, everywhere you go. Remove cards and information you don’t need on a regular basis (such as your Social Security or Medicare card). Make copies of the remaining cards (front and back) and store them in a safe place. If you do happen to lose your wallet, it will be easier to cancel your cards that may have fallen into the wrong hands.
Tired or receiving spam calls? Sending them directly to voice mail through the phone settings is a great way not to have to deal with scammers and not to listen to yet another message that your car warranty is about to expire. If you don’t answer the call, you can’t give out personal information.
The same goes for texts. If you don’t recognize the number, it could be someone attempting to scam you. Be wary. Just because you recognize the name of your bank or company you deal with doesn’t mean that is who the call, email or text really is from. On the computer, scroll your curser over the sender’s address. If it isn’t what you expect or has nothing to do with the particular sender, don’t click on it. If you really are unsure, don’t respond. Instead, contact your back or insurance company and ask if they need to reach you.
Always remember to sign out or log off the website you were using. That includes your credit card company, bank or such apps as Venmo or Zelle. Don’t leave them open for someone who just might have gotten into your computer to mess with.
It can be annoying, but it is much better to cooperate with the two-factor authentication than to be scammed. Even if it seems too often, just take a minute to type in the code sent to you. It improves your chances of not losing money. Subscribe to an antivirus software company that knows what to look for and what to block.
Privacy is important. Set your Facebook and other social media profiles so that only your friends can view your page. It often is as simple as clicking on a settings and privacy list and following the instructions. Don’t accept friend requests from someone you don’t know, even if it appears that person has so many friends in common with you. That could be part of the scam.
Not all online stores are legitimate. Scammers can create a URL with just one letter different than the store you think you are at. It is a good idea, according to AARP, to check the URL closely.
Did you ever notice that most stores and food sites seem to be so kind when they ask you if you want them to store your credit card information so it will be there the next time you purchase something? Don’t do that. Click no and take the time to retype your information if you shop there again. You really should never have your personnel information stored for scammers to find, and it really doesn’t take all that long to fill out the information again.
Before you call a phone number or click on a link, take a breath, think about it and talk it over with a friend or family member or two. There is a good chance they will tell you they received the same email or phone call and didn’t trust it. When in doubt, contact the company in question directly. AARP offers a Fraud Watch Network Helpline. That number is 877-908-3360.
Although basically anyone can fall for a scam, the people trying to steal someone’s life savings are most likely to target older adults. About five years ago, a Potomac man was sentenced for 12 years in prison for defrauding his elderly client of $1.8 million.
The man exploited a woman in her nineties who had trusted him and asked him to handle her financial accounts. According to State’s Attorney for Montgomery County John McCarthy, the man “chose over and over again to betray the trust of his client, someone he knew was vulnerable.” McCarthy said the crime was “an egregious exploitation of senior citizen in our community and her family.”
During a six-year period when the woman believed her assets were being handled smartly so her daughter would inherit much of it, the man was spending lots of her money on himself. And it isn’t just someone you may have hired, family and friends have been known to try and steal your assets, thinking you will never believe they would do such a thing.
The scammers gain the trust of the people they target and then exploit them. In the minds of these criminals, seniors are more trusting and polite than younger folks. Also, seniors often have savings, own their homes and have good credit — all attributes a scammer seeks.
Seniors often are less likely to report what happened to them, partly because they are ashamed and partly because they believe their relatives will think they are too old to live on their own or conduct their own financial affairs.
But it is important to report the crime. It may be possible to recoup some of your losses, and it just may stop the scammer from stealing from yet another person. If you think you are a victim of elder fraud — or if you believe your loved one is a victim — file a complaint at the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.
According to US News and World Report, these are the 10 most common scams that target older adults.
AI-Powered Scams
Crooks use advanced technology like artificial intelligence to write emails pretending to be someone or a company. They use tools to analyze patterns from a target’s online presence and then develop a message that sounds real. They could also generate realistic-sounding voices that ask a victim for personal information.
Funeral Scams
If you place an obituary in a local publication after a loved one dies, a thief might contact you and insist that your deceased relative left behind a debt that needs to be paid. In another variation of this scam, the criminal might attend the funeral to gather information about you before asking for money to cover the debt. Someone pretending to be from the funeral home could call you and insist that there are extra charges that haven’t been paid.
Tech Support Scams
A criminal might call or email you, pretending to be a support representative for a tech company. They could warn you that a virus or malware has damaged your computer. They may offer to update or fix your device. Once they begin work, they gain access to your personal files and information.
Government Imposter Scams
You might receive phone calls from people pretending to be from the IRS or Social Security Administration that demand immediate payment of unpaid taxes or ask for personal information to continue receiving governmental benefits. The scammer could use a technique called spoofing, which makes it appear as if the incoming phone number is legitimate. The caller is likely to ask you for information or insist you make a payment, which might need to be in the form of a gift card.
Grandparent Scams
In this scenario, callers pretend to be the grandchild of the person who answers the phone. Callers might claim they were in a car accident, in trouble with the law or lost their passport. They often insist that you do not tell anyone and then request money or gift cards.
Internet Scams
Internet scammers can find your personal information in a variety of ways and then use it to obtain money. Personal information can be obtained from your social media postings, online financial accounts or bill payments.
Investment Scams
A person claiming to be a financial advisor, real estate investor or wealth manager may contact you to discuss an exciting investment opportunity and promise big returns if you send them funds first. But the only thing you will end up with is a smaller amount of money in your bank account and nothing to show for it.
Check Fraud
Thieves might steal a check from your mailbox or mail carrier. They could change the amount of the check and make it payable to someone else. Or they may take a digital picture of the check and alter it so they can make more deposits or develop other checks from the picture.
Reverse Mortgage Scams
If you own your own home, you could be contacted by an individual offering a reverse mortgage. They may offer to appraise your home for a fee, give you a low estimate or ask you to sign inaccurate loan documents.
Caregiver Scams
Caregivers may collect your data while in your home with you. If you’re getting help from family members, they could have access to your personal information and take money from your accounts without you knowing about it. Your information could be used to open a new credit card and make purchases.
Sweepstakes Scams
A fraudster could contact you and congratulate you for winning the lottery. They might even send you a fake check, which may look real until it is rejected by the bank. That leaves you on the hook to pay fees or cover taxes.
But if you are aware and don’t rush into any decisions or randomly click on unknown links, you have a much better chance of never being scammed. The FBI suggests the best way to protect yourself is to abruptly end any communication if it doesn’t feel right.
Search online for the contact information that you received and details on a proposed offer. If there is nothing there, that is a red flag. Often, there may even be posted information warning their customers not to reply to particular requests.
Never give or send any personally identifiable information, money, gold or other precious metals, jewelry, gift cards, checks, or wire information to unverified people or businesses. Remember, businesses want your money for their goods and services, not your gold coins.
The FBI also suggests that everyone makes sure all computer anti-virus and security software and malware protections are up to date. Use only reputable anti-virus software and firewalls. If you do happen to get a pop-up message saying you must call for help immediately or if your computer screen locks, shut down your internet and your device. Pop-ups are regularly used by perpetrators to spread malicious software. Enable pop-up blockers to avoid accidentally clicking on a pop-up.
Be careful what you download. Never open an email attachment from someone you don’t know and be wary of email attachments forwarded to you. When in doubt, move on.
Take precautions to protect your identity if a criminal gains access to your device or account. Immediately contact your financial institutions to place protections on your accounts and monitor your accounts and personal information for suspicious activity.
There are so many ways scammers try to get your money, and they are clever. They know how to stay one step ahead of you. But if you never engage in the first place, they can’t get your information. If unfortunately, they do, don’t keep giving them more money trying to rectify your mistake, stop all contact and let a loved one and the police know what happened. Chances are they will at least end the theft and possibly even get some of your life savings back.
The idea of this Senior Resources Guide is not to scare you but rather alert you to common tactics and ways to avoid getting scammed. After all, it’s way easier to avoid a problem than having to crawl your way out of one.
This guide was written by Suzanne Pollak, senior writer/editor at The Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington. Learn more about JCA at accessJCA.org or call us at 301-255-4200 or 703-425-0999. Follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/AccessJCA or X at x.com/AccessJCA.
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