An Introduction to Avoiding Fraud Aimed at Seniors

Joe Lynyak (Host): Hello to our audience today and to our guest, Steve Weisman. My name is Joe Lynyak, and I am the host of Truth4Seniors, a podcast located at Truth4Seniors.net, which is dedicated to giving adults 60 and older clear, honest, actionable information on a range of issues, from health and finances to technology, housing, and legal rights. This is the fourth of our initial baseline episodes, intended to provide you, as a senior or a near-senior, with considerations relating to scams and fraudulent practices directed at you. It's entitled “Scams Directed at Seniors and Preventive Responses.”

Joe Lynyak (Host): I'd now like to introduce our noted guest, Steve Weisman. He's a nationally recognized expert in scams, identity theft, and security — not for perpetrating them, but for preventing them. He's a lawyer, a college professor, and a prolific author. He teaches at Bentley University, where he has received awards, and he has received certificates of commendation and a certificate of merit from the American Bar Association. He is quoted just about everywhere — in the press and on television, on the networks and across the media, as well as in the Washington Post and the New York Times. He is a true expert, and I really appreciate you being here. Welcome, Steve.

Steve Weisman (Guest): It's good to be with you.

Joe Lynyak (Host): To begin the discussion: there are innumerable bad actors out there attempting to deprive you, as a senior, of your money — scams and creative but illegal practices that can result in you losing money, in small or large amounts, depending on the scheme. An FTC report in 2025 estimates that losses experienced by seniors, believe it or not, range between $10 billion and $81 billion, depending on the methodology used to compute the number. The focal point is deceptive practices run through social media. Steve will identify and analyze a number of common types of scams and what you can do to prevent them from being successful. Steve, I'm going to turn it over to you. Can you share your thoughts about what you are seeing in this area, including preventive actions you would recommend?

Steve Weisman (Guest): Yeah. You mentioned the FTC statistics about scams, and one of the things I always say is: things aren't as bad as you think — they're far worse. The estimates were anywhere from 10 [billion] to 80 [billion], and it's probably even closer to 100 billion. The reason is that the FTC estimates only about 5% of people who are scammed actually report it. A lot of times, particularly with seniors, that may be out of embarrassment. But let's start with a real premise: anybody can be scammed. It doesn't mean seniors are any more susceptible, although I've studied a lot about why people are susceptible to scams.

Steve Weisman (Guest): It's interesting that the two most commonly scammed groups are seniors and Gen Z — my college students. As I tell my students, with seniors, of which I am technically one, there's a part of our brain that deals with skepticism — this has been studied at Cornell University, the University of Iowa, and UCLA — and it becomes less viable as we age. So we may be more trusting, and that can lead to being scammed. Gen Z, I tell them, has no such justification.

Steve Weisman (Guest): The other thing is that scammers have a knowledge of psychology that Freud would have envied. They know how to appeal to us, particularly to a part of our brain called the amygdala, sometimes called the lizard brain. It evolved early on and allowed us to make snap decisions in times of imminent threat and danger — that saber-toothed tiger that's just about to come out of the bushes, so we have to respond. That's what happens with people: they're told there's some emergency or major threat, or there's an appeal to greed, and they have to act right now. And so people fall for it.

Steve Weisman (Guest): I looked at Bernie Madoff and how many people fell for his scams — a lot of very, very intelligent people. Madoff actually, in a jailhouse interview, blamed his victims. He said anyone who looked at what he said he was doing would have seen that it was impossible, so it was their own fault. With investment scams, all too often we trust. Sometimes it's called affinity fraud: we trust people like us. Who's “like us” depends on how you define that relationship — it can be ethnic closeness, a religious connection, members of the same fraternal organization. It can be anything where you put your trust in someone who doesn't deserve it.

Steve Weisman (Guest): Another of my mottos is: trust me, you can't trust anyone. You always have to check things out. Recently there was a Ponzi schemer in Georgia who actually continued to scam people after he had been indicted. Anyone who looked into him would have found that he wasn't legitimate. Also recently in the news, there was a scammer posing as one of the San Francisco 49ers, and he and his “investment counselor” scammed hundreds of people, focusing on women.

Joe Lynyak (Host): But he wore a jersey — he must have been real.

Steve Weisman (Guest): Well, you know what was really interesting, Joe? People used AI to look up whether he was a member of the 49ers, and according to AI, he was. I ask my students: where does AI get its information? It harvests it from the internet — and thank goodness there's never anything false on the internet. Certain scammers know how to place false information in enough places that even AI will be fooled. Going back to that fake 49er: he turned people over to an investment counselor, and if anyone had looked him up, they would have seen he wasn't licensed anywhere and the investments were not registered. So you always have to confirm everything.

Steve Weisman (Guest): A lot of scams come in through phone calls, emails, and text messages, and you can never accept any of that as legitimate unless you've independently confirmed it. You never click on a link, you never download an attachment, and you never make a payment unless you've absolutely confirmed that they are legitimate. And again, things aren't as bad as you think — they're far worse. With AI, even relatively unsophisticated scammers can make their scams look really, really legitimate.

Steve Weisman (Guest): Looking on a macro scale at businesses, there's something called business email compromise, and it's been around for quite a while. Scammers would do their due diligence on a particular company — who the officers are, how they work — and then send a phony invoice that appears to be from a vendor the company does business with, saying, “We changed our bank account; send payment here.” Recently, Microsoft showed that one scam group sent out a million of these phony invoices over just two days. Using AI, they pinpointed corporations that were customers of one particular software company. And they didn't just send the phony invoice — they sent it in an email that included a thread of previous phony emails between the CEO and the vendor. It looks totally legitimate. It reminds me of an old Groucho Marx line when he was caught cheating: “Who are you going to believe — me or your own lying eyes?” Your eyes are going to deceive you.

Joe Lynyak (Host): So what do you do if you get that kind of message? I get notices from my bank, and legitimate things, and I try to figure out whether they're legitimate or not. I don't want to click on the link. How do you approach these when they look real?

Steve Weisman (Guest): That's it — they really can look real. In cybersecurity we call it “zero trust,” and that's where you have to go. It's interesting that you mentioned alerts from your bank, because that's something we should all use. Banks have a menu you can choose from: you can get an alert if there's been any transfer from your account, if a transfer is over a certain amount, or if money is going to someone you've never sent anything to before. Those alerts can tell you early on if there's been an attack. However, because we get these legitimate alerts, if you get one that appears to come from your bank, you can easily fall for it.

Steve Weisman (Guest): Any of us can be fooled. I was at a destination wedding in Las Vegas, and I got one of these, and it really triggered a sense of emergency in my mind. Then, not being the brightest bulb, I realized, wait a minute — this is from Citizens Bank, and I don't have an account at Citizens Bank. But now, with AI, scammers can gather information about where you bank, and you'll get one that appears to be from your own bank. The thing to know is that no legitimate alert is going to ask you to click on a link or provide information. It's just going to tell you. If you get an alert like that, the easiest thing to do is contact the bank at a phone number you know is legitimate, and you'll be able to confirm whether there's really a problem.

Joe Lynyak (Host): One thing to add — and this is kind of a homework assignment for seniors. In every state, under the Uniform Commercial Code, which governs banking, there's a requirement that you check your bank statements, usually within 60 or 90 days. The hook is that if you don't, and someone takes your money, you may be out of luck. So it's really important that seniors look at their bank statements and call the bank, because that's your opportunity to have the matter corrected. It's really up to you.

Steve Weisman (Guest): An interesting corollary is debit cards versus credit cards. If you use a credit card and you're a victim of fraud, by federal law the credit card company cannot charge you more than $50 for a fraudulent purchase — and in all the years I've done this, I've never seen a credit card company charge anyone for one. Your debit card looks like a credit card, but it's tied to your bank account, and there is no $50 limit. If you contact the bank within two or three days of a fraudulent purchase, you can get it reversed. But if you wait 90 days before you notice from your statement that you've been cheated, you are, as you said, totally out of luck.

Joe Lynyak (Host): You mentioned credit cards. Probably the greatest consumer protection is buying something with a credit card, because you can reverse the leverage. Say there's a legitimate problem — a company did an installation at your house and it didn't work. You call them and say, “You need to fix this,” and they don't really want to. You call the credit card company, and they will reverse the charges, because they don't want to be in the middle. All of a sudden that merchant is calling you back saying, “I'll be out there right away to fix the problem.” It's a really important consumer protection.

Steve Weisman (Guest): As a matter of fact, I criticize a lot of the brokerage houses and a lot of the banks — in New York, Attorney General Letitia James is suing one of the major banks for not protecting its clients from obvious scams. But you're right on with the credit card companies. They probably do the best job of consumer protection. For instance, if you're going to travel extensively, particularly to Europe, let the credit card company know, because they're going to notice when you suddenly use that card in London and it's not consistent with what you usually do. The credit card companies really are doing a good job of protecting consumers in a lot of ways.

Joe Lynyak (Host): Summing up — and again, to our listeners, this is the first of what's going to be several episodes on this topic — what would you say are the top three things our audience should take away from our discussion today?

Steve Weisman (Guest): When I look at the scams that most affect seniors, the tech support scam affects people over 60 in much higher numbers. What happens is you usually get a pop-up on your screen, or your screen freezes, and there's a note to call Microsoft or Apple or someone because there's been a problem. Then they tell you that you need to make a payment to fix it and that everything is in danger. Right now, the most common way scammers want you to pay — because, as you said, a credit card charge can be reversed — is to take money to a crypto ATM, which looks like a regular ATM, but you put money into it and it sends it to a crypto account, which is really hard to trace.

Joe Lynyak (Host): OMG.

Steve Weisman (Guest): Oh, yeah. In fact, in Waltham, where I teach at Bentley, there was a senior who had $20,000 he was going to send through a crypto ATM to fix his “tech support” problem. As he was going to the machine with a big wad of money in his hand, an off-duty police officer spotted him and managed to talk him out of it. A number of states have filed major lawsuits against the companies that operate these crypto ATMs; it's been estimated that 90% of their use is by scammers. So this is something to really avoid. With tech support scams, you're not going to get a legitimate note popping up telling you to call Microsoft or anyone else. And when they say, “Don't turn off your computer” — turn off your computer. That will do it.

Steve Weisman (Guest): The other big one, and the biggest area of scams, is imposter scams. This is where scammers contact you pretending to be Social Security, Medicare, or the FBI. Sometimes it'll be a call from “the FBI” saying someone using your Social Security number has been caught bringing drugs over the border, and to avoid arrest, “we need to confirm who you are — your bank accounts are in danger, so take all of that money out and send it to us, and we'll hold it for safekeeping until this is straightened out.” And people do this. No government agency is ever going to legitimately ask you to take your money out and send it to them. Another thing to note — and it's kind of a sad commentary — is that the IRS actually says on its website that it doesn't accept gift cards. If someone asks to be paid by gift card, by crypto, or by gold, it's a scam.

Joe Lynyak (Host): Some friends of mine in law enforcement say that two transfers past your initial crypto transaction, the guy sitting there is Tony Soprano. So I share your concerns.

Joe Lynyak (Host): Since we are concluding, let me say that we've talked about things governed by both federal and state laws — criminal and civil — and this is an introductory program in the area. Hopefully we will have Steve back to talk about other things in greater detail. And just remember, folks, because we're not providing legal advice: if something comes up along the lines of what Steve has mentioned, talk to someone from a government agency or a nonprofit organization to help resolve your issue — and maybe turn off your computer for a while. Steve, thanks so much for providing this valuable information. As I mentioned, we will certainly revisit this area in future episodes, and this is a really good starting point.

Joe Lynyak (Host): And thanks to our audience. As we improve the Truth4Seniors website, which you can find at Truth4Seniors.net, we will be publishing summaries of our podcasts along with useful materials and where to find them. We'll also be making the episodes available for viewing on your computer and through YouTube. In the meantime, email us at contact@truth4seniors.net with your thoughts and comments, which we encourage and welcome. We want to structure our podcast to be as useful as possible. Tell us what you like and what you don't like, including issues of concern to seniors that we should address. Oh, and by the way, Steve, what is your website? It's really excellent.

Steve Weisman (Guest): I was going to suggest it. My website is Scamicide — S-C-A-M-I-C-I-D-E dot com. Every day we post a new Scam of the Day and how to avoid being scammed. When I first started this about 15 years ago, I didn't know if I'd have a new scam for every day. About 6,000 scams later, we're still not having any trouble finding them. So I'd urge people to go to Scamicide. It's free to subscribe, and you'll get the Scam of the Day and real help identifying the latest scams and how to avoid them.

Joe Lynyak (Host): It is really, really helpful — I recommend it. Thank you, Steve. Thanks to our audience, and we'll be back soon with another episode of Truth4Seniors. Take care, everybody.