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Palo Alto Police officials and an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation stood at the front of a room in the Mitchell Park Community Center this spring. They were there to discuss ways seniors can prevent scams and the “dangers of fraud to the community at-large and seniors living in Palo Alto,” according to the event description.
The presentation falls into a “savvy” trend of local seniors fighting against scams.
Last year, the country faced a record high loss of $16.6 billion to scams, 33% more than the previous year, according to a June 27 Santa Clara County press release.
As phone and online financial scams rise nationwide, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office hopes to offer more educational seminars to help seniors avoid scams, according to the statement.
Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputy Bob Yee, a former Silicon Valley tech executive, has hosted two recent educational seminars to help seniors avoid scams in Cupertino and the county hopes to expand those efforts throughout the region.
Participants, who reported feeling more confident about their ability to sniff out scams, received safety tips, real-world examples and identity theft recovery steps, according to the statement.
“While people of all ages can be victims of financial exploitation, older adults are often targeted as they are more likely to have accumulated assets from decades of work and saving,” according to a report by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging.
The report, released in 2024, says the top five most common senior scams all involve impersonation – scammers who pretend to be a person-in-need, a financial services entity, a government official, tech support or a romantic interest.
Person-in-need or “grandparent scams” often involve imposters who pretend to be a grandchild or a family member who needs help with an emergency and may even use artificial intelligence to replicate a loved one’s voice. Sometimes, callers will pretend to be an officer who has detained the person’s family member.
Gary Schildhorn, a lawyer, was driving to work when his son called him, alerting Schildhorn that he had been in a car accident that injured a pregnant woman. Shortly after his son purportedly called from jail, his lawyer contacted Schildhorn, asking him to provide bail money, according to the Senate report.
“This series of calls all occurred within a few minutes,” Schildhorn wrote in the report. “It was not until the calls stopped and I was driving to the bank that I had an opportunity to think.”
With one quick call to his family, Schildhorn learned that he had been involved in a “person-in-need” scam and that his son was completely fine.
Some grandparent scam warning signs include rushed phone calls urging a person to send money, demands for secrecy or sudden shocking situations. If a person believes they are being scammed, they should hang up immediately and attempt to call the family member.
“Law enforcement will never contact a family member to collect bail money on behalf of someone else,” according to the report.
Financial services scams typically involve people who impersonate banks, debt collectors or mortgage servicers. Callers have been known to harass or threaten victims and can easily alter their caller IDs so they appear to come directly from the bank.
Similarly, government imposter scammers will imitate IRS, Social Security or Medicare employees, and threaten to cut off benefits, arrest or deport people for “unpaid taxes.”
Banks and government agencies say they will never ask people to share sensitive information like Social Security numbers nor send funds over the phone or online. Legitimate debt collectors also offer ample time to pay, rather than forcing people to pay over the phone and they can not have people arrested for failure to pay fees, according to the report.
Experts advise people to hang up on suspicious callers and to immediately contact the entity directly in order to verify the call.
Tech support scams often play off discomforts some have using technology. Computer-based scams typically use pop-up windows or alerts that claim a person’s computer has been infected with a virus. Scammers, who sometimes pretend to be associated with respected companies like Best Buy, Apple or Dell, may request access to someone’s device in order to “fix the problem” or instruct people to call a fake support number, according to the Senate report.
Tech support fraud was the No. 1 crime type impacting people over 60 in 2023, according to the FBI. Often, these scammers will quickly ask for money to fix the virus or say only they can fix the issue.
Experts advise people to hang up if a caller suddenly claims a device has been hacked, to never provide remote access to someone unless they directly contacted a company and always avoid giving personal information.
Romance scams are known to “exploit an individual’s desire for companionship and love by creating” fake online identities in order to gain a person’s trust through longer-term communication. Scammers might frequent dating websites, social media platforms or messaging services, then fake an emergency in order to ask someone for money.
People who do not want to meet in person, participate in video calls or do not have any mutual connections to a person are often red flags for romance scams.
Generally, it is suspicious if a caller will not verify their identity or asks a person to quickly wire money over.
Scammers may also impersonate companies through text messages that might urge people to click a link or respond generally, so texts should always be verified with companies directly before a response is sent.
Local officials say the key message when addressing possible scams is to “slow it down and investigate before acting on any unsolicited communication, whether by phone, email, social media, or in person,” according to the county press release.
“It’s like checking who’s at the front door before opening it,” Yee wrote. “Now, we need to take that same caution into the virtual world.”
People who suspect they may have been contacted by a scammer can report it to the Federal Trade Commission, an agency that works to protect consumers, over the phone to 1-877-382-4357, online or contact their local law enforcement. The county sheriff’s office provides further tips to prevent fraud on its website under “scams.”
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