Ways to Help Seniors Avoid Digital Financial Scams

It's a horrible scenario no family caregiver wants to experience: receiving a message from a senior loved one’s bank that a financial scammer has overdrawn their account.

Digital financial scams work because seniors can be the perfect prey. Scammers take advantage of the kindness and vulnerability of seniors to gain access to their banking information, credit cards, online shopping accounts, or nest eggs for retirement.

While digital financial scams might seem obvious to you, an elderly adult may not recognize the telltale signs. Here are some key ways to identify suspicious messages, along with practical tips to help your senior stay a step ahead of scammers.

How to Tell a Scam from a Real Request

There are some fairly common indications a message is not legitimate. A phishing message sometimes includes misspellings, sentences that don’t make sense, or a mix of languages in the text. Other red flags include sweepstake offers, opportunities to receive a large amount of money, or threatening messages demanding money or attention.

Today’s con artists are not limited to traditional phone call scams. Technology advancements have opened up new and different channels, such as:

• Robotic phone calls: “Robocalls” are automated telephone calls that deliver pre-recorded messages to a large number of recipients. Scammers often use robocalls to impersonate legitimate organizations, like banks or government agencies, to trick seniors into sharing sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers, bank details, or passwords. Listen to a robocall example provided by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
  
• Text messages: Watch out for vague messages from unknown numbers, such as “Hi, how are you?”, “You have an unpaid fine!” or “You have a package on the way!”
  
• Emails: Encourage your loved one not to click links to unexpected special offers or account updates. While it might look like it came from a familiar company, skilled scammers can easily replicate a branded message.
  
• Social media: These platforms are notorious for creating relationship hustles, in which a scammer tries to build an instant relationship with a senior to get money.

Advise your senior if they ever have doubts about a suspicious call, text, or email, they should hang up or delete the message immediately, and then reach out to you, a trusted family member, or contact the organization directly through an official phone number to verify its legitimacy.

Tips to Help Seniors Avoid Getting Scammed

Certain organizations, such as Social Security, Medicare, or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), have published rules about how they contact customers. The IRS, for example, specifies that they rarely email or call without permission, and don’t take payment over social media.

Give your aging loved one a few tips to handle unknown messages:

• Don’t answer calls or messages from numbers that aren’t saved to your phone
• Never provide financial, personal, or account information over the phone or through a non-verified email address or text message
• Ask what type of communication to expect any time you open a new service or account

Remind them that they don’t have to be polite to scam callers. If they pick up the phone and realize it is a telemarketer or robotic call, they can hang up even if the voice is still talking. Coach them to say, “I don’t do business with people I do not know. I am not interested. Goodbye. Please put me on your ‘do not call’ list.”

If your senior doesn’t like confrontation, ask them to say firmly, “Please talk to my daughter.” They can hand you the phone, and you can take over for them.

For a visual cue, tape the following Federal Trade Commission number to your loved one’s laptop or near a phone: 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).

Professional Home Care Support to Protect Seniors from Scams

In addition to having regular conversations about phishing safety, the best bet you can have to protect your loved one at home is to surround them with supportive professional caregivers.

Visiting Angels can play a key role in ensuring your senior avoids common scam tactics. Our caregivers can monitor incoming calls, messages, and emails, and encourage your senior to verify anything suspicious before responding. By building trust and maintaining open communication, Visiting Angels will help your loved one feel confident and supported when facing potential scams through our companion care and personal care services.

Whether your loved one needs companionship or personal care support, a dedicated professional caregiver is just a phone call away.

Contact a Visiting Angels home care office near you today.