Common Elderly Scams and How to Identify Them As adults grow older and their senses become a little less reliable, there are a number of dangers family members and caretakers have to worry about. We tend to think of ways we can prevent physical injuries to those we care for, but we don’t think near as much about the ways seniors can be taken advantage of by others. Senior scams are incredibly prevalent in our present reality, made even easier by the Internet, the treasure trove of information on it, and the way it makes contacting older adults more simple than it’s ever been. If you’re responsible for the care of an older adult, here are some of the scams they could fall prey to. Telemarketing scams. While there are some legitimate telemarketers out there, there are a lot of bad actors, including those who target seniors. These telemarketers don’t actually have a product or service to sell: their mission is to extract money from older adults. Counterfeit prescriptions. These scammers operate in one of two ways: they either swap legitimate prescriptions out for fakes and resell them, or they knowingly sell fake prescriptions and pocket the money. Email scams. Technology has made it even easier for scammers to target seniors, and nowhere is that more obvious than with email. If an older adult believes a scam email to be legitimate, they could offer credit card or banking information up willingly and see their funds drained. Grandparent scams. These scams target older adults who may be losing their hearing, or may be declining cognitively. Someone will call a senior pretending to be a family member in dire need of funds. The senior, wanting to help a family member in trouble, will unknowingly send money to a scammer. Knowing the scams to look for is only half the battle, however. If someone has already gotten to an older adult you care for, you also need to know how to identify the signs of a senior who has been scammed. Keep a close eye on the senior’s finances. If you suddenly see unpaid bills stacking up, or signs that a financially responsible senior is suddenly cash-strapped, look more closely into the situation to see if they’ve been scammed. If they express an interest in a reverse mortgage, this is also a sign they may have been scammed and need to access their home’s equity to have liquid cash on hand. If you’re vigilant in helping your senior avoid these scams, and you’re quick to shore things up if they fall victim to one, you’ll be able to protect their funds and help keep them safe from the scammers of the world.

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