How to have the conversation
Older adults are not more gullible than anyone else. They are targeted harder because they tend to have savings, a landline, and the manners to stay on the phone. Lecturing fails, and shame is the scammer's best ally, because a victim who feels foolish hides the loss while it grows. Talk about the scams as news, mention the one that nearly caught you, and set the expectation that a call to you before any urgent payment is normal.
The scripts in use
- The family emergency call claims a grandchild is in jail or in a hospital and needs money now, in secret. Voice cloning software can imitate the grandchild from a few seconds of audio.
- The tech support pop-up freezes the screen, shows a phone number, and ends with a stranger holding remote control of the computer and the bank login.
- The government or bank impostor warns that an account is compromised and the money must be moved to a safe account.
- The romance or investment contact spends weeks building trust before the first request arrives.
Every one relies on urgency, secrecy and an unusual payment method, and any two of the three is reason to hang up.
Defenses to set up together
- Choose a code word that any caller claiming to be family must know.
- Turn on the phone's setting that silences unknown callers and sends them to voicemail.
- Freeze their credit at all three bureaus.
- Add a trusted contact to brokerage accounts, and to bank accounts where offered, so the firm can call you about odd activity without giving you any control of the money.
- Set up transaction alerts, or read-only access, so that a large withdrawal is seen the same day.
- Remove any remote-access software from the computer, and arrange a durable power of attorney with a lawyer while it is a convenience and not an emergency.
If money has already gone
Hours matter. Call the bank or card issuer and ask it to stop or recall the transfer, then report it to the Federal Trade Commission and to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. The Justice Department's National Elder Fraud Hotline, at 833-FRAUD-11, assigns a case manager. If a caregiver or relative is taking the money, call the county's Adult Protective Services.
Note Victims are put on lists that are sold. Expect a follow-up call from someone promising to recover the lost money for a fee paid in advance, and know that it is the same people.
