Beware of Tech Support Scams in Older Americans Month

May is Older Americans Month, and we celebrate the strength, resilience, and wisdom of our older community and the many contributions they have made. We also want to help keep older Americans safe from scams. 

It’s no insult to the elderly that we’re singling them out like this – in fact, young people are far more likely to be victims of scams than the elderly. In recent years, Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X people were more likely to be victims of fraud than older adults. But the types of scams differ. Younger people are more likely to fall prey to social media based scams, employment scams, or fraudulent investment offers involving things like crypto. The scams are often based on them being new adults with a need to make money, and the amount they lose tends to be low – around $500 for people age 18 to 59.

But when older people are scammed, the financial hit tends to be harder, either because of the types of scams, or because older people tend to have more money to lose. People age 70 to 79 had a median financial loss of $800, while those over 80 lost about $1,500. Worse yet, in some of the most severe cases, older Americans lost their life savings. 

Some of the most common scams that older people fall victim to are tech support scams. Older people didn’t grow up with computers and cell phones, and may not be completely comfortable with the new technology – something that scammers will try to take advantage of. 

The scam starts with a call or text impersonating tech support from a well known company. Or, the person might even get a popup on their computer warning them that they have been compromised, and urging them to call the phone number provided to get help. 

In a simple scam, they will pretend to scan for viruses, but actually do nothing (and of course there wasn’t a virus to begin with) and then charge for a useless service. In more insidious scams they may pretend to run a scan and then claim to have discovered links to crimes like drug trafficking or child sexual abuse material. They may demand money to hide the alleged crime. Or, they may say that the person’s accounts have been hacked and their money is in danger, but they can help authorities by taking part in a sting operation to catch the bad guys and keep their money safe. Of course the sting involves the victim giving them large sums of money that will be used to catch the criminals.

In another tech support scam, the victim gets a notification that they have been billed for a tech support or antivirus subscription. The message says they have to call immediately to dispute the charge. When they do, they are sent to a fake site and told they have to enter their credit card information to start the refund process. From there, the criminals can either charge money to the victim’s card, or take the scam a step further and claim they processed a refund for far too much, and demand that the victim pay it back in gift cards or crypto. These scams can be convoluted and confusing, leading victims to part with more and more money and personal information. 

Whatever your age, don’t let uncertainty about technology, or a careless moment, cost you money when a scammer targets you. If you think you’ve been the victim of a scam or scam attempt, you can call our non-emergency number to make a report.