Senior Scams Are Hitting Our Communities Hard. Here's How They Work and How to Stop Them

An average of more than $38,000. The FBI says that's how much an older American lost, on average, when they reported a scam in 2025. For many retirees, that's a year or more of savings, and it's gone because of one phone call, one pop-up or one new "friend."

The people who spent decades building wealth are now the main target of criminals trying to take it. The good news is that most of these scams follow a script, and once you know the script, you can interrupt it.

The numbers behind the problem

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released its 2025 data this year, and it is grim reading:

• More than 201,000 complaints came from victims over 60, with reported losses of more than $7.7 billion.
• Compared with 2024, complaints rose 37% and losses rose 59%.
• At least 12,400 older victims said they lost $100,000 or more.

Older adults are also losing far more than their share. According to an analysis of the IC3 data by Elder Law & Advocacy, people 60 and up filed about 20% of all complaints but accounted for roughly 37% of all reported losses.

Even those figures understate it, because many victims never report. The Federal Trade Commission has estimated that the true cost of fraud against older adults could be anywhere from $10.1 billion to $81.5 billion a year.

How seniors are actually getting scammed

The FBI's breakdown of 2025 losses for people 60 and over shows where the money goes. Here are the schemes doing the most damage, plus one that rarely shows up in the headlines.

1. Investment and crypto "opportunities"

Investment fraud is far ahead of everything else, costing older victims about $3.5 billion in 2025. It often starts on social media. The FTC reports that older adults lose more to investment scams than to any other type of fraud, and that social media is the most common way scammers make first contact with investment victims of every age.

The typical version: a friendly stranger shows you a trading app with impressive "returns" and convinces you to keep adding money. When you try to cash out, there are suddenly "fees" to pay first.

2. Tech support and fake bank calls

Tech and customer support scams cost older victims about $1 billion in 2025. A pop-up says your computer is infected, or a caller says your bank account has been compromised. The "technician" wants remote access to your device, and the "bank" wants you to move your money somewhere "safe." Wells Fargo's advice: don't respond to unexpected tech support pop-ups, calls, texts or emails.

3. Government impersonation

Fake IRS agents, fake Social Security officials and fake police officers took about $413 million from older victims. The pitch is usually fear: a warrant, a frozen benefit, or your identity "linked to a crime." The fix always involves paying right away.

4. Romance and confidence schemes

Romance and confidence scams cost older Americans about $584 million. They play out over weeks or months, and the scammer offers something isolated seniors truly want: attention.

5. The "grandparent" call, now powered by AI

As far back as 2023, the FTC and cybersecurity experts warned that AI voice cloning was making the classic grandparent scam more convincing. The caller sounds like your grandson. He's in trouble, needs money now, and begs you not to tell his parents.

6. Cash into a crypto ATM

More and more, scammers send victims to cryptocurrency kiosks at gas stations and convenience stores to feed in cash. Once it's sent, it's almost impossible to get back. FBI data shows crypto ATM losses topped $388 million in 2025 across more than 13,400 complaints. The FTC has found that adults 60 and older were more than three times as likely as younger adults to report losing money through these machines.

7. The scam nobody is watching: your home

A house is often a senior's biggest asset, and many are owned free and clear, which makes them attractive targets for deed theft. Criminals forge a signature on a quitclaim deed, get it notarized and record it with the county. Or they pressure an older owner into signing the property away. Fraud experts who spoke to a Memphis TV station warned that seniors are especially vulnerable, particularly when a home sits empty, including after the owner dies.

These cases are real. This past June in Montgomery County, Ohio, two people who were accused of using a forged quitclaim deed to take a house from a man with dementia pleaded guilty to felony records-tampering charges.

The FBI has warned that quitclaim deed fraud can involve forged documents, or relatives and close associates talking older adults into transferring property. The agency recommends watching property records and signing up for county title alerts where they're offered. Most people never check their deed after closing, and that blind spot is what deed thieves count on.

The playbook every scam shares

FBI field offices keep pointing to the same three red flags:

• Urgency. You must act now, before you can think or call anyone.
• Secrecy. Don't tell your bank, your kids or the police.
• Unusual payment. Gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, cash couriers or crypto ATMs.

No real agency, bank or grandchild needs you to buy gift cards in secret within the hour.

How we can help prevent it: practical steps

If you're a senior

1. Hang up and call back. Use a number you look up yourself, such as the one on your bank card or a government website, not the one the caller gives you. The FBI's own advice includes the simple step of hanging up the phone.
2. Never give remote access to your computer or phone to someone who contacted you first.
3. Lock down social media. Set your profiles so only approved friends and family can see them. That leaves less material for scammers to research you or clone a relative's voice.
4. Watch your property records. Check with your county clerk about free recording alerts, and think about continuous monitoring of your title.

If you're a family member or caregiver

1. Set a family code word. Anyone calling with an emergency and asking for money has to know it.
2. Make a "second call" rule. Before any urgent money moves, the person calls another family member first.
3. Know the warning signs. Wells Fargo lists several: a new person urging secrecy or distance from family, a relationship or "advisor" that gets close very quickly, and sudden anxiety or excitement tied to someone new.
4. Name a trusted contact. Banks and brokerages let you add one. If a caregiver already handles the finances, consider naming a different relative, attorney or accountant so a second person is keeping watch.
5. Talk about it without shame. Victims who feel embarrassed stay quiet, and quiet victims keep losing money.

If you're a lender, title company, agent or attorney

You're often the last trusted professional a client talks to before a big transaction. Flag closings that feel rushed or involve a brand-new "family friend," look closely at quitclaim transfers involving older owners, and give clients protection that lasts after closing. That's the idea behind our partner program.

If it already happened, move fast

Speed matters more than anything else. In 2025, the FBI's Financial Fraud Kill Chain process handled 642 incidents involving victims 60 and older, with about $65.4 million in reported losses. It helped freeze roughly $32.9 million of that, but only because the reports came in quickly.

1. Call your bank or payment service right away and ask them to stop or recall the transfer.
2. Report it to the FBI at ic3.gov, the FBI's office for elder fraud complaints. The Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime also runs the National Elder Fraud Hotline to help with reporting.
3. Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
4. Warn your family and friends.

Enforcement does work when victims come forward. In November 2025, the FBI San Diego Elder Justice Task Force and more than 100 law enforcement personnel served arrest and search warrants targeting an international elder scam network. The FBI had used IC3 reports to identify more than 500 suspected or confirmed U.S. victims, with losses topping $40 million.

Protect what took a lifetime to build

Most of these scams go after money that can be moved quickly. Deed fraud goes after the home itself, and it can go unnoticed for months. That's the gap DeedLock was built to close. It watches county property records around the clock and alerts you the moment something is filed against your title. Cancelling it requires identity verification, so a scammer can't quietly turn it off.

Have the conversation with your parents this weekend. Set the code word, check the deed, and save the reporting links. Then put a watch on the home itself: visit goldpatrons.com to protect your property, or your clients' properties, with DeedLock.