Last year, more than 201,000 Americans over 60 reported losing $7.7 billion to online criminals — a 59% jump in a single year. The average loss was $38,500. More than 12,000 people lost over $100,000 each. And because federal researchers estimate that fewer than one in twenty victims ever reports the crime, the real number is far higher.
These aren’t strangers in faraway places targeting careless people. They are targeting our parents, our neighbors, and increasingly, us.
What’s Changed: Artificial Intelligence.
The “grandparent scam” used to rely on a panicked, muffled voice and a bad connection. Today, a scammer needs only a few seconds of audio — pulled from a Facebook video or a voicemail greeting — to clone your grandchild’s voice convincingly. The call comes at 11 p.m. There’s been an accident. Don’t tell Mom and Dad. Please hurry.
The FBI logged thousands of AI-related fraud complaints last year, with losses in the hundreds of millions. The technology is inexpensive, widely available, and improving monthly.
The Four That Cost Seniors the Most:
Investment Fraud: Now nearly half of all senior losses. Often begins as a friendly text “sent to the wrong number,” builds into a months-long relationship, then introduces a fake trading platform showing spectacular returns. The account balance is a screenshot. The money is gone.
Tech Support Scams: More than $1 billion lost last year. A pop-up or call claims to be Apple, Microsoft, or your bank and requests remote access to your computer.
Romance Scams: Built patiently over weeks on Facebook, Instagram, or dating apps — then the emergency arrives.
Recovery Scams: The cruelest category. Someone contacts a victim shortly after a loss, claims they can retrieve the stolen funds, and takes what’s left.
A note for anyone buying or selling a home: wire fraud remains a serious threat in our industry. Criminals monitor a transaction email and send fraudulent wiring instructions days before closing. Never wire funds based on emailed instructions. Call your escrow officer at a number you already have and verify verbally.
Six Habits That Actually Work:
- Pause ten minutes. Urgency is the weapon. Every legitimate request survives a 10-minute delay. No scam does.
- Hang up and call back on a number you already have — never the one provided to you.
- Choose a family code word. A phrase only your family knows. Ask for it before you send anything.
- Never grant remote access to your computer, and never send cryptocurrency to anyone you meet online. Legitimate institutions do not ask you to deposit cash into a crypto kiosk.
- Talk to someone before you act. Isolation is the scammer’s greatest ally. Seniors who call a family member first are dramatically less likely to lose money.
- Report it — always. File at ic3.gov or call the Justice Department’s Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11. There is no shame in being targeted by a professional.
Please show this to your parents. Then call them and talk it through.
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