this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2024
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Summary

Reports of older adults losing over $100,000 to scams have tripled since 2020, per the FTC, with 4,600 cases in 2023 compared to 1,300 in 2020.

Older Americans lost $1.9 billion to fraud last year, with the actual losses likely closer to $62 billion due to underreporting.

Common scams include romance, investment (notably fake cryptocurrency), and imposter scams. The psychological and financial toll is severe, especially for retirees.

Experts urge vigilance against red flags like urgent demands, social isolation tactics, and unusual payment requests like gift cards or cryptocurrency.

all 16 comments
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[–] ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 40 points 2 years ago

Man how would it be to have 100,000 to lose to spammers.

[–] justhach@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago (1 children)

News outlets: "Gen X/Millenials are about to receive the greatest generational wealth transfer in the history of mankind!"

Scammers and Reverse Mortgage brokers: "Lol"

[–] HK65@sopuli.xyz 12 points 2 years ago

Add retirement homes, healthcare, and once in a lifetime inflation events every decade.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 20 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Long ago, I developed these skills:

  • If it's not a physical fucking thing, and you can get it by paying money, you can probably get something close to it for free. Go look for that.
  • If it's a service, and someone is offering to sell it to you without you having asked, it's either a scam, or you don't need it anyway.

I'm not saying I'm necessarily immune to these scams, I don't know what getting older is going to do to my brain. But I can say that I'm vaccinated against them.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I’ve watched like a 500+ hours of Kitboga while working from home.

I AM immune to these scams hahaha

[–] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

They come up with new and more complicated shit all the time. First step to avoiding them, is knowing you are not immune and being wary of them.

[–] JCreazy@midwest.social 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I'm torn. Should I feel bad for these people or should I think that they are old enough to know better and are responsible for their own actions?

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'd bet that a good number of older people who fall for these scams are people whose interpersonal relationships have become thinner over the years, making the scams more attractive as personal contact.

When they were younger, and had people around them more often, these kind of scams might also have come up, and they might have fallen for the scams then, too, except for being able to talk to people more readily and have someone say that it doesn't sound right.

So it's a combination of "I've always been open to falling for scams" and "I have a weaker community support system now."

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 9 points 2 years ago

There is also the loss of mental acuity with age. I've seen a lot of people mentally regress as they hit their 60's.

You also have people who may not be aware of how some systems work because they've never had to deal with them while the rest of the world has. I've seen people this year struggle using my car because they didn't know you have to press the brake when you push the start button, as their cars still use keys.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 years ago

You should be mad that the government has done fuck all to stop or hold telecommunications companies responsible for a call from outside the country appearing as the FBI to scam old people.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Maybe I should just give up and become a scammer.

[–] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 years ago

Not like the fcc is going to exist next year. Go for it, man

[–] MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

I've been contemplating becoming a right wing grifter for several years. It's just too easy.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago
[–] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 years ago

That's a lot of money...