No one wants to think of themselves as vulnerable to being scammed or swindled, but the reality is, if you’re an older adult, you likely have a target on your back. We’ve already published many posts on scams and frauds perpetrated against those aged 60 and beyond, but despite the resources and information that can help you to protect yourself or your loved ones, the scams just keep on coming, and every year more and more senior citizens fall victim. Depending upon the sources you cite, the number of seniors swindled or dollars lost each year from scams can range from $966 million lost in scams and fraud in 2020 to $1.7 billion lost in 2022. Even if your own personal losses only add up to a few hundred or few thousand dollars (though stories abound of seniors scammed out of tens of thousands or even millions of dollars) if you’re on a fixed budget, the losses can be financially catastrophic, not to mention the toll they can take on your physical and emotional well-being.

So what are the latest scams to be on the lookout for? Well, given our proximity to Valentine’s Day, there is the perennial “Romance Scam” perpetrated against lonely older adults, primarily through such online channels as social media or dating websites. According to a recent article in The New York Times, romance scams alone netted scammers $139 million in 2020, up from $82 million in 2019. These types of scams are not always easy to discern and are often not disclosed, as victims may not realize they are being scammed until far too late or may be in denial that the perpetrator’s expressions of love and affection are fake. But if you or a loved one don’t fall for fraudulent schemes of romance, there are plenty of other ways for you to be snookered. There’s always the “grandparent scam,” luring loving grandparents into surrendering money to “bail out” a beloved relative from a foreign jail. AARP recently published its list of the 7 top scams of 2023. Among the more current scams? Everything from luring you into fake crypto investing to student loan forgiveness scams to luring you into downloading QR codes that might facilitate putting malicious software on your phone. The security website Aura also lists multiple scams that ensnare older adults, including funeral scams (claiming a deceased loved one owes a debt) to fraudulent online shopping involving fake products to charity scams that prey on your sympathy or innocence. There are also the perennial “robocallers” pretending to be from Medicare or the IRS and hoping to trick you into supplying them with identifying personal information. It was estimated that in January alone, 36 million fake Medicare robocalls were sent to US phone lines trying to defraud senior citizens. It’s especially difficult to not get trapped by one of those calls when their caller ID fraudulently suggests they are actually calling from Medicare. Word to the wise: Never assume a caller is who he says he is just because his caller ID matches his claim- it’s apparently not hard to disguise your caller ID and take on the appearance of someone else. For a list of regularly employed additional scams, read here.

So how do you protect yourself or a loved one? It’s not easy, even if you are so inclined. If you are trying to protect a loved one from scammers, with their permission you can do the obvious such as set up credit monitoring, bank alerts, and identify theft protection. You can also leave visual reminders next to the phone or the computer about which calls not to answer or which links not to click on. There is a National Elder Fraud Hotline through the Department of Justice you can access to report situations of scams or fraud, but as Carolyn Rosenblatt recently pointed out in Forbes, cases are rarely reported. In fact, she cites a statistic that only 1 in 24 cases of elder financial abuse are ever reported. The problem can become even more complicated if the scammer is a family member or paid caregiver (fraud by these 2 groups is the most commonly perpetrated).

As a recent column in The Washington Post makes clear, there is a lack of adequate safeguards protecting older adults, making them easy prey for criminals who want to defraud them. So it’s essentially up to each of us, and our loved ones, to try to keep ourselves as safe as possible, however we can. Want to get the conversation (or protection) going regarding scams? The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article to at least ensure your smartphone remains safe from scams. Among the easy-to-implement suggestions? Password protect your phone, update your operating and app software, set up your spam filters, and make sure a trusted loved one gets alerts from banks and other financial institutions when something out of the ordinary takes place. Some final words of wisdom: Never click on an unsolicited link or a link from someone you can’t verify. And never feel pressured to give someone you don’t know any personally identifying information. Always take a pause- and consult a trusted loved one- before you take an irrevocable step with either your money or your personal info- if for no other reason than your peace of mind.