Common Fraud Tactics Used On Seniors

Con artists employ a wide variety of tactics to get older people to fall for their schemes. Below are some to be cautious of:

• Being friendly, approachable, and sympathetic so that the victim feels like the solicitor is on his or her side
• Instilling fear or giving a sense of urgency so people don’t have much time to think or act rationally
• Appearing to be helpful to gain someone’s trust and make that person feel inclined to return a favor later on
• Using emotional arousal to skew proper judgment; not long ago, researchers at Stanford found that when elderly individuals are in a state of high emotional arousal, they become more interested in buying things that are falsely advertised
• Pretending to be associated with a credible company, government agency, or charity to fake legitimacy
• Being ambiguous about the subject or changing it throughout a conversation to distract the victim

Learn more at: www.seniorliving.org/research/common-elderly-scams/