Graphic provided | Nick Youngson via Wikimedia Commons

It seems like every few weeks, local police departments and other institutions put out alerts about scammers trying to make off with people’s money or information, often using manipulative tactics to convince them to give it up willingly.

What’s more, many of these alerts warn against scammers contacting people over the phone or through the internet.

Although anyone can fall victim to a scam, online and phone scams often deliberately target seniors.

“Scams targeting individuals aged 60 and older caused over $3.4 billion in losses in 2023,” according to the FBI’s 2023 Elder Fraud Report, released in April. That’s about an 11% increase compared to the previous year. Over 101,000 victims in this age group reported scams to the FBI in 2023, according to the report, with the average loss per victim clocking in at about $34,000.

“People over the age of 60 are vulnerable to scams,” said Melissa Dixon of Legal Aid of the Bluegrass. “So educating yourself on what scams are out there and how to avoid them is very important.”

Dixon and representatives from other local organizations spoke as part of a panel at a special event at the Erlanger branch of the Kenton County Library last week. Called the Northern Kentucky Senior Scam event, it focused on the ways that modern scams disproportionately affect seniors. It was well attended–a huge crowd of onlookers sat in one of the library’s meeting rooms to hear the panelists speak. The key takeaway from the event was this: Scams can be avoided if you know how to spot them.

Attendees at the NKY Senior Scam Event at the Erlanger branch of the Kenton County Library on Friday, June 7, 2024. Photo by Nathan Granger | LINK nky

“If you can spot a scam, you can stop a scam,” said AARP Kentucky State President Gary Adkins at the event.

Scams targeting elders take various forms, but they tend to rely on a handful of common tactics and presumptions to get people to part with their information and money.

Firstly, they rely on people’s ignorance of technology. In fact, tech support scams, wherein a scammer will call pretending to be a tech support agent from Microsoft or some other well-known tech company, were the number one kind of complaint the FBI received in 2023.

The most common forms of elder scams reported to the FBI in 2023. Graphic and data provided | Federal Bureau of Investigation

The second tactic scammers rely upon is emotional manipulation. These include appeals to fear, loneliness, joy and love, all of which are designed to short-circuit someone’s critical thinking skills and get them to act impulsively. Scammers call this putting someone under the ether, according to the AARP’s Con Artist’s Playbook, which catalogs many of the common tactics scammers use. The book even quotes con artists directly.

“Ether is a condition that a master closer puts a prospect in by hitting their fear, greed and urgency buttons,” said one scammer, who simply called himself “Rocky,” in The Con Artist’s Playbook. “I would tell prospects, I wanted to keep the victim in the altitude of the ether because once they drop into the valley of logic, I’ve lost them.”

Common ways scammers will put someone under the ether, as it’s called. Table provided | AARP. Click for full-sized image.

Tech support scammers, for instance, may lie and say that someone’s computer has a virus as a way of scaring a person into letting them into their computers.

Scammers may also masquerade as a loved one, promise cash prizes or convince someone they’ll get quick, high returns on an investment opportunity. Finally, some scammers will even try to romance their victims over the internet, only to hit them up for money down the line.

One may notice that many of these tactics resemble the sorts of high-pressure sales tactics that can sometimes show up in normal retail interactions: Create urgency, and people will be more willing to drop their guard. In a way, that’s actually good news because it means that people can train themselves to become sensitive to online scam tactics even if they aren’t overly tech-savvy.

If you suspect you’ve come across a scam online or over the phone, keep these tips in mind:

  1. Legitimate organizations won’t contact you and ask for your information–This includes businesses, government agencies, tech companies and nonprofits. It’s different if you call Microsoft’s helpline and the agent asks for information, but if someone calls you, emails you, or reaches out on social media and starts hitting you up for information (or money), that’s a signal something is amiss.
  2. Think, don’t feel–Manipulating emotions is the primary way scammers get people to make bad decisions. If you find yourself getting swept away by fear of arrest, the prospect of wealth or something else emotionally overwhelming, stop and think. Does it make sense the police would call me before they came to arrest me? Did I actually order a package recently? Why is my family member suddenly texting me from an unfamiliar phone number?
  3. Slim down your social media usage–Social media is a useful tool, but it can become risky if you aren’t careful. Set your privacy settings so that only friends and family can contact you. Be careful about interacting with people you haven’t met in real life. Don’t click on ads. Likewise, avoid opening emails from people and organizations you don’t recognize.
  4. Cease communication if you think you’re talking with a scammer–Scammers will sometimes rely on people’s sense of decorum and politeness to keep them talking. Don’t worry about being rude. They’re trying to steal from you. Hang up, block their emails, unfriend them on Facebook. If they’re pretending to be someone you know, contact the real person through your normal channels afterward to verify.
  5. Continue educating yourself–There are lots of free, legitimate resources out there to help improve your knowledge not only of scams but also technology more generally.

Check out some resources below to help you stay better informed: