Scams Target Older Americans at an Alarming Rate

The number of elderly victims impacted by fraud has risen at an alarming rate, while the loss amounts are even more staggering. In 2021, over 92,000 victims over the age of 60 reported losses of $1.7 billion to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). This represents a 74% increase in losses over 2020.

Many of these member-targeted scams involve fraudulent wire transfers reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars, specifically targeting your elderly members. Every May is the nation’s observance of Older Americans Month. This is a good time to share these scams and mitigation tips to help your credit union, employees, and members better detect and shut down attempts of financial exploitation of the elderly.

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