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6 Common Elder Scams to Avoid

By George Khoury, Esq. on September 30, 2016 | Last updated on August 15, 2024

While the average internet user is getting older, internet scammers are getting bolder by preying on our loved ones. The old Nigerian royalty phishing scam has gotten much more sophisticated, as have the other tactics of internet scammers and identity theft. In addition to the new tactics, new technology is enabling scammers and con artists to target seniors more so than ever before. The most common scams targeting seniors include sweepstakes scams, tech support scams, funeral scams, financial abuse, reverse mortgage scams, and other types of scams involving social media like Facebook.

Below are just a few of the elder fraud that older adults need to be aware of in order to make sure they are not tricked into handing over their nest eggs, financial information from their retirement fund, or identity.

1. Royal Flush Phishing Scams

Phishing scams still work in the same way they did when that very first scammer sent the fraudulent email claiming to be royalty in need of assistance. If you receive an email from someone claiming to be royalty or from a rich family, and they need you to send them money so that they can get the money that is rightfully theirs, you are dealing with scam artists who are trying to steal from you. If you send them the thousand dollars or whatever they are asking for, they claim to be able to send you half their million dollar fortune or inheritance. This is always a scam. Don't even bother to respond to these emails. If you're going to do anything with them, forward them to the Federal Trade Commission (also known as “FTC") at spam@uce.gov or the FBI rather than sending them your account information.

This financial scam can also use fake lottery winnings or sweepstakes to accomplish the same goal (scammers says you won the lotto or drawing, but that you need to send money to cover the taxes before you can be paid... trust me older people, you're not getting paid).

2. Phishing for Banking Info Scams

Phishing scams have gotten much smarter. Have you ever received an email from your bank asking you to update your user profile, account information, bank account, or user information? If so, you may want to make a phone call to your bank to ensure that it was really from your bank, as this is a common online scam.

Phishers usually use email addresses that are off by one or two letters, so a @bankofamerica.com email address would say @bonkofamerica.com, for example. Then, when you click on the link or pop-up, rather than getting directed to www.bankofamerica.com, you get directed to www.3ankofamerica.com or something to that effect. The site you get directed to will ask you to enter in sensitive information like your password, your social security number, and/or sometimes even your bank account numbers. The info you enter goes directly to these fraudsters.

3. Phishing for Personal Info Scams

Like the one above, scammers will set up fake websites and email accounts that look nearly identical to common services that people use, such as email or social media sites. Then, they send an email requesting a senior citizen to update their profile or user information or ask for donations to a charity which doesn't exist. Then, they use that information to steal your identity.

4. Medical Services or Devices Scams

For elderly people, medical services or device scams are becoming a serious concern in the health care space. While there are many legitimate services that offer senior assistance and only get paid by Medicare, there are many scammers out there claiming to offer services to seniors that get paid without ever providing any actual service, or only provide one service, but bill Medicare for 10 services.

5. Help a Family Member Scams

Often referred to as the grandparent scam, the scammers calls someone they know to be elderly and immediately says, "Hi grandma (or grandpa), do you recognize my voice?" Inevitably, someone will mistakenly think that it really is their grandchild. Once the grandparent has taken the bait, the scammer will request money be sent for some emergency that no one else can know about. While these used to be only telephone scams, with internet phone services, which are virtually untraceable due to no caller id, these scams have become more popular.

A similar scam will come in the form of an email from a friend or family member, and will basically say that they are in a foreign country, or on vacation, and have either been robbed or lost all their money, credit cards, ID and phone some other way. The email then asks for you to send money or gift cards ASAP as they are sitting in a web-cafe waiting for you to send money so they can eat, buy a ticket home, etc.

6. Home Improvement Scams

Sometimes legitimate business owners scam the elderly. Heck, even older people's caregivers. Apart from simply overcharging for goods and services, a common scam involves selling home improvements that are not actually necessary. Certain less-than-moral contractors, especially in states that do not require a contractor to be licensed, will walk right up to the front door, sometimes pretending to be a government inspector, then explain that work is required to be done by law. If this happens, use the internet or phone book to find an independent contractor and call their phone number to provide a second opinion and estimate.

A related scam involves reverse mortgages. Many seniors own their house outright and have a lot of equity in their residence. Scammers may contact seniors with a plan to appraise the home and then remove the equity once they have the homeowner's banking information. This type of fraud may be hard to spot but could cause the victim to lose money from their largest assets.

If you are a senior citizen and have been the victim of a scam, contact your local police, as well as your bank, to file reports. Your bank may be able to reverse a transaction, and the police or FBI will be able to investigate or pass the matter along to the appropriate law enforcement agency.

The only sure way to avoid being scammed is to be vigilant about not providing personal information (especially your social security number) or sending money to people you don't know, and to verify that if you're sending money to a family member, that the person is actually your family member. You can stay up on new scams by checking resources such as Snopes.com, which usually lists new scams to avoid.

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