What is the most common scam targeting seniors?

The categories that matter most

• Government impersonation — Social Security, Medicare, IRS, or a sheriff's office threatening consequences.
• Tech support — fake pop-ups and renewal invoices leading to remote access and a refund-overpayment trick.
• Family emergency — a grandchild in trouble, increasingly using AI-cloned audio.
• Bank impersonation — a 'fraud analyst' instructing you to move money to a safe account.
• Romance and relationship fraud — months of contact preceding the first request.
• Investment and crypto fraud — fake platforms showing fictional profits, with fees demanded to withdraw.
• Prize, sweepstakes, and lottery — payment of taxes or fees before a prize that does not exist.

Most common versus most costly

These are not the same list, and the difference matters. Tech support and government impersonation generate the highest volume of complaints from people over 60 in FTC and FBI IC3 data, because they are cheap to run at scale. Investment fraud and romance scams generate the largest individual losses, because they unfold over weeks and target savings rather than a single payment. A household defense needs to handle both: filtering for the high-volume attacks, and a slow-decision rule for the high-loss ones.

Why older adults are targeted

• Accumulated savings, home equity, and steady benefit deposits make the payoff larger.
• Landlines and daytime availability make contact easier.
• Generational norms of politeness make hanging up feel rude — scammers exploit this deliberately.
• Social isolation increases receptiveness to any voice that offers attention or help.
• Health, Medicare, and benefit topics create plausible reasons to discuss sensitive numbers.
• Shame after a first loss keeps it hidden, and victim lists are resold for repeat attempts.

The defenses that cover the widest ground

1. 1Carrier spam filtering plus a voicemail-screening habit for unknown numbers.
2. 2A family safe word for any emergency money request.
3. 3A permanent credit freeze at all three bureaus.
4. 4Bank trusted-contact designation and alerts on new payees and large withdrawals.
5. 5A 24-hour rule for any decision presented as urgent.
6. 6A quarterly review of bank and Medicare statements with a family member.