Fraud prevention: How to help older family members avoid scams

When we talk about fraud that can inflict a severe financial and emotional toll on the victims, it’s not hyperbole. One area where this is increasingly evident is elder fraud, as the amounts of money lost to various kinds of online scams climb sharply every year.

In 2024 alone, Americans aged 60+ reported almost $4.9 billion in losses to online scams, an increase of 43 percent from the year prior and a five-fold increase from 2020, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Center. The average loss from elder fraud was $83,000, compared with $19,000 across all age cohorts.

Behind those numbers are individuals and entire families whose well-being and financial security were shaken to the core after years of savings evaporated in a moment of misplaced trust. The sheer scale of fraud targeting the elderly is something that should make families take notice and fight ...