You probably think it will never happen to you, or your parents. You’re too smart to be swindled out of your money. You know a scam when you see one- or maybe… you don’t. It turns out that banks alone have seen a 12% increase in financial abuse of senior citizens in just the last year. No matter how savvy you think you or your parents are, there’s always someone waiting to pull a fast one.

Here are some hard facts: Older people can be easy targets of fraud. They may have significant assets in traditional banks, their cognition may be diminished and their sense of judgment may be less trustworthy. And since statistics show that 90% of swindlers are family members or other trusted people, seniors may not even realize they’re being duped. When a scam happens, they may be too embarrassed to report it, or it may be too late to recover the funds.

What types of scams are out there? Well, there are the “usual” activities- “requests” for loans, unknowing use of a power of attorney, stolen credit card numbers or identity theft. All can drain the assets of unsuspecting seniors. Recently The National Council on Aging has warned seniors to be on the lookout for fraudulent calls from the Social Security Administration, financial predators lurking when natural disasters strike or even a new twist on the “grandparent scam” where callers pretending to be a grandchild ask for cash to be mailed rather than money wired.

What can be done? As an individual, you can take action to protect yourself from social security fraud. And there are state and federal laws that allow banks to report suspected abuse cases and to even delay or pause transactions they are concerned about. Banks are also beefing up training programs and working on implementing software with artificial intelligence to create profiles of those at risk and transactions that will trigger concerns. For example, cash withdrawals at 2:00 am using the debit card of an 80-year-old customer? Certainly something that might require an investigation. Of course, no one wants to strip an older person of his or her autonomy to do what they want with their money. A balance needs to be struck. But safeguards need to be developed to ensure those at risk do not lose their life savings.