How to help protect your loved ones from senior scams

This is part of a series of columns about how to protect important information and people in your life against fraud and scams. Stay tuned for more.

It’s fair to say today’s Canadian seniors grew up in a more courteous time. But their reflexive politeness makes them uniquely vulnerable to digital fraud and identity theft, say fraud experts.

“I’ve seen a lot of cases where, particularly in the senior cohort, they’re worrying about appearing to be rude,” says Julie Kuzmic, senior compliance officer, consumer advocacy with credit bureau Equifax Canada.

How senior scams work

Seniors might receive a phone call, email or text message claiming to be from their bank or another organization with which they hold an account. The caller or sender will usually add some urgency to the request, saying the senior’s account will be closed or their service cut if they don’t act quickly. Or the targeted person might get a message that looks like it’s from a relative who’s in another country, saying they’ve suffered a misfortune—such as an accident or arrest—and need money right away.

This is known as an emergency scam, according to the Canadian Anti-fraud Centre (CAFC). Variations include grandparent scams and “broken phone” scams, in which the text sender claims they’re using someone else’s phone because their own is broken or lost. The messages can be very convincing—especially with fraudsters’ growing usage of deepfake video and audio, mimicking the voice and faces of family or friends. They can also be frightening, demanding and aggressive.

“The tactic used by fraudsters is often to get someone to act before they have the opportunity to think things through,” Kuzmic says. If you have elderly parents and other senior-aged relatives, emphasize that “it’s OK to be rude,” Kuzmic says. “You don’t owe callers anything.” Not money. Not personal information. Nothing. So, point out to them that genuine bank representatives, other service providers and relatives would all agree that they “always have the right to end the conversation and verify independently before agreeing to anything.”

New scams to beware of in Canada

One of the challenges of protecting seniors online is that fraudsters’ technological capabilities are always expanding, and their tactics are constantly changing. That makes it difficult to warn seniors about what to be wary of. New types of scams may not trigger the same thought process that would normally get their guard up, says Kuzmic.

For example, there have been instances where a user’s search for an acquaintance’s obituary has triggered a fraud whereby fraudsters mock up a fake obituary of somebody they know—who hasn’t in fact died—using artificial intelligence (AI) and try to have it appear in browser search results. “They’ve thrown it together in a second, into a fake obituary with a charitable donation link in memory of the person,” Kuzmic says. Of course, the donations go straight into an account controlled by the criminals.

Another common ruse is the obituary scam or bereavement scam: fraudsters using information publicly shared in obituaries, such as the names of family members, to steal identities or impersonate relatives.

An aspect of today’s online scams that might fool unsuspecting seniors is that they may not involve money, at least not at first. A scam may be a ploy to get their social insurance number (SIN) or another piece of personal information, which the criminals can either sell or use to apply for credit in the victim’s name.

Tips to prevent senior scams

If you have older parents and/or relatives who may be vulnerable to online predators, here are some steps from Kuzmic you can take to protect them from senior scams and fraud:

Make sure their devices have antivirus software and malware protection. (Learn more about protecting devices from scams.) Advise them to never give out personal information when they receive an unsolicited call or text message. Instead, they should call or email the company or organization to verify the request. Consider starting a process for new expenditures and donations—for example, your parent could consult you before committing more than $100 to anything. Consider a family credit monitoring service, such as Equifax Complete Protection, so you can regularly check your parents’ credit reports, with their consent. (More details about this service below.)

How to communicate with the seniors in your life

Effectively conveying these precautions may be a delicate matter. Instead of imposing rules, Kuzmic suggests illustrating scenarios where fraudsters might catch them unawares.

Should your older relatives fall victim to a scam, it’s crucial not to react in a way that will add shame to the victim, says Kuzmic. That will impede their financial and emotional recovery and make them less likely to share information and consult others the next time something suspicious happens. “Focus on what we can do about it now rather than what has happened,” Kuzmic advises.

Prevent senior fraud with Equifax Complete Protection

Unfortunately, vigilance and awareness alone don’t stop identity theft. High-tech scams need high-tech prevention tactics.

A credit monitoring service can help. Features of Equifax Complete Protection include:

Daily credit monitoring and alerts to notify you of key changes to your Equifax credit report, such as a loan application WebScan, which monitors the dark web (hidden websites where criminals buy and sell data) for personal information you provide Social media monitoring by ZeroFox, to alert you to suspicious activity on your social media accounts Online data encryption by NordVPN and password management by NordPass Parental controls from Bitdefender to restrict your kids’ access to websites and apps Device protection from Bitdefender to help stop phishing attempts and protect devices from viruses and malware

Read more about fraud prevention:

How to protect yourself from identity fraud in Canada Why do Canadians keep falling for scams? Financial fraud in Canada: What to do if your bank account or credit card is compromised You’ve just discovered someone stole your identity—is it too late?

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