Avoiding Scams: 4 Tips to Keep Your Aging Loved Ones Safe from Scammers

It’s common for scammers to target the elderly population in senior living because of their lack of technological knowledge. This can put your loved ones at risk for scams that steal their money and personal information.

Follow these tips to protect the seniors in your life from malicious scammers. 

1. Don’t Answer Calls from Unknown Numbers

Let your loved ones know that if they receive a phone call from an unknown number, they shouldn’t answer it. 

Scammers get elderly people in senior living on the hook by calling them and pretending there’s an urgent situation. Such a ploy can confuse and worry seniors, which makes them more vulnerable to giving out personal information.

Many scam artists pretend that the senior on the phone is in legal or financial trouble. The key is to avoid answering these types of calls at all. 

Assure your loved one that the caller will leave a voicemail if it’s truly important.

2. Never Click Random Links

Some scams operate through links sent via text message. These links often direct seniors to suspicious websites that collect personal information, including bank account info and Social Security numbers. 

Tell your aging loved ones that links should always be off-limits unless they know the sender personally. This includes random texters that claim to be in positions of authority — police officers, government workers, and other law enforcement.

3. Look Out for Threats and Intimidation Tactics

Scammers sometimes call seniors and threaten them with legal, financial, and even physical harm. The biggest red flag that something is a scam is if the caller or texter starts intimidating your loved one.

Let them know that legitimate businesses and professionals will never try to harass, threaten, or scare them over the phone. These are telltale signs that someone is a scammer that’s willing to prey on elderly people’s sense of urgency and danger. 

If your loved one answers the phone and starts receiving threats and other abusive language, tell them to hang up immediately and block the number. 

4. Stay Guarded on Social Media

These days, scammers are using every available medium to target elderly people, including social media. A scammer may impersonate someone on your loved one’s friend list to get information from them. 

Inform your loved one of the dangers of impersonation and show them how to determine whether a friend or follow request is legitimate. For example, someone from their friend list likely won’t make a second account and try to add them, so if that happens, it’s probably a scam.

Also, teach them to watch out for suspicious social media links, articles, and survey forms, and have them avoid engaging with these things at all costs. 

Protect Your Loved One from Harmful Scams

Scam artists are often difficult or impossible to track down, which means your loved one probably won’t get their money or personal info back if they give it out. Follow these tips to make sure residents of senior living communities never fall victim to technology-based scams.