Your parents are the most targeted people on the internet.
Scammers target older adults specifically. They're not less smart. They're less suspicious. Attackers design for that.
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Published
Older adults lose more money to fraud than any other age group — $3.4 billion in 2023, according to the FBI. The most common scams: tech support fraud (fake Microsoft/Apple alerts), romance scams, grandparent scams, and investment fraud. All of these share a pattern: urgency, isolation, and requests for untraceable payment.
The tech support scam: a pop-up or phone call warns of a virus. They need remote access to 'fix' it. Once in, they see everything — bank logins, passwords, documents. They may also ask for gift cards to pay for the 'service.' Legitimate tech companies never call you unsolicited.
The gift card tell: no legitimate organization — not the IRS, not Medicare, not your bank, not Microsoft — will ever ask you to pay them in gift cards. Anyone who does is a scammer. Full stop. Every time.
Have a direct conversation with your parents and grandparents: tell them it's okay to hang up on anyone asking for money or account access. Tell them to call you before doing anything financial with someone who contacted them first. Make it easy — add yourself as their emergency contact.
Consider setting up a Google Voice number for older relatives to use publicly, keeping their real number private. Enable two-step verification on their email. And check in regularly — scammers often instruct victims to keep the 'situation' secret from family. That's a red flag.