Elder abuse is the No. 1 crime against people 65 and older. Despite 5 million cases of elder abuse each year, only 1 in 25 cases are actually reported. A large portion of these cases revolve around finances, resulting in around $36.5 billion lost per year. Financial scams often go unreported due to embarrassment and fear.

“Nobody wants to say they made a mistake, especially publicly,” said Blake Guinn, vice president of marketing at First National Bank.

There are three common scams you can identify: romance scams, grandparent scams and phishing scams.

1. Romance Scams

In most romance scams, a scammer will use a fake identity to gain the victim’s trust and affection. Then, using the ruse of a close relationship, the scammer will attempt to steal from the victim by asking for money. Often, the scammer will pretend to be stuck overseas and ask for money to get home or say they are in jail and need money to get out.

How to recognize a romance scam: The person is asking you to transfer money for emergency surgery or medical bills, gift cards or loans, plane tickets or other travel visas/documents, and/or money to get home from deployment.

2. Grandparent Scams

The grandparent scam consists of someone pretending to be a grandchild or other loved one of the victim asking for money. This is a common cover scammers use: “I’m out of the country and have been arrested. Can you wire some money for my bail? Please don’t tell my parents because they’ll get mad.” This request can come through an email but is commonly conducted through a phone call. 

This scam isn’t only used on grandparents – it’s commonly used against other family members and even family friends – and isn’t always the so-called grandchild asking for help.

How to recognize a grandparent scam: You receive a phone call or email from someone claiming to be a grandchild or other family member in distress. The person is urgently asking for an unusual amount of transfers through wire services or apps you do not typically use, gift card purchases or cash withdrawals to be sent to a foreign country. Though there will be an urge to act quickly, take time to call the loved one and other family members to help determine if the call is legitimate. 

3. Phishing Scams

Phishing scams are emails, phone calls or texts that appear to be from legitimate businesses and ask you to update or verify personal information via an included link. Though the website’s address may look similar to the one you’ve used previously, the fake website will instead ask you to enter sensitive information such as your credit card number and other bank account information and passwords. 

How to recognize a phishing scam: These scams often get your attention by telling you suspicious activity has been monitored on one of your accounts or there is a problem with your account and your payment information needs to be confirmed/updated. Sometimes they say you’ve qualified for a free gift or some type of refund, or even pose as someone from your bank. Do not click on any link included. 

“One thing you always need to know is your bank will never call and ask for personal information. We’ll never email and ask for personal information. We always tell our customers that if you don’t believe you’re on the phone with us, hang up and call the number associated with your bank or come in. We will never get mad at you for wanting to do that,” said Guinn.

While it’s important to stay vigilant when it comes to scams, community banks are also on the lookout for harmful tricks such as these and will assist you with any possible scams that may come your way.

Sponsored by First National Bank