By Emma Patch
From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention for the AARP Fraud Watch Network, offers expert advice for spotting and protecting against scammers.
Question: Scams that rob older adults of $100,000 or more have tripled since 2020, according to the Federal Trade Commission. What is driving this trend?
Answer: The biggest crimes we’re seeing are relationship-based investment scams, typically involving cryptocurrency. Scammers contact people on social media or send a text message, and they pretend that they sent the message to the wrong person. They use that as an entry point to begin a conversation that eventually becomes a trust relationship. Then the criminal suggests investing in cryptocurrency. Eventually, the victim loses everything. These criminals target older adults because that’s where most of the money can be found.
These scams rose sharply during the pandemic, when a lot of people went online—many for the first time—to do everything from working to shopping, and the criminals followed. The Chinese mafia set up scam centers in vacant casinos, enslaving people through human trafficking and having them send out millions of text messages to lure victims.
Question: What other scams commonly affect older adults?
Answer: We’re seeing a lot of complex impersonation schemes. You may get a text that looks like it’s from your bank asking whether you performed a certain transaction, and it’s always something scary—say, a $1,700 charge. If you click “no,” you immediately get a phone call from someone who claims that your bank account is being hacked. Then they tell you they’re going to get you on the phone with their fraud investigations team and the FBI to protect your assets. Sometimes they’ll have you take money out of your bank account, walk over to a cryptocurrency ATM and convert it to crypto, and send it to the scammer. In other cases, they’ll tell you to purchase gold bars with the money and wait until someone who is impersonating an FBI agent picks you up.
We also hear about people who come to nursing homes and offer services such as DNA test kits that they claim are covered by Medicare. In reality, the scammers are looking for information they can use to steal the individuals’ identities and cause all kinds of havoc.
Question: What vulnerabilities do scammers exploit in the aftermath of a natural disaster?
Answer: Natural disasters are a free-for-all for criminals because they know that many people in a particular geography have been affected. Scammers are creating fake charities, impersonating contractors, and listing fake home rentals online to target people who are looking for a place to stay.
You should be skeptical of anybody coming to you to offer help following a natural disaster, especially if there’s money involved. I know how hard it is not to take the first offer in a situation where you have to rebuild or you have a lot of damage, but it’s really important to do some research. Get bids from multiple contractors, and don’t pay everything up front. When it comes to finding rental properties, use legitimate sites, and make sure you’re staying within the rental website or app when you make a payment. If you’re asked to make a payment outside of the platform, that’s a sign of a scam.
Question: How can people protect themselves and their aging loved ones?
Answer: We’re all susceptible to fraud. It’s not only older Americans. At www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork, you can sign up for biweekly email or text message alerts of the latest scams from the AARP Fraud Watch Network. We also have a helpline (877-908-3360) that people can call if they have questions or have been victimized.
©2025 The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. The Epoch Times does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice. The Epoch Times holds no liability for the accuracy or timeliness of the information provided.
