Person with credit card and phone (Image used under license from Shutterstock.com)

Anthony DeHart

Scammers, using tactics ranging from impersonations to investment schemes and AI, appear to be targeting older adults in North Carolina and across the country more than ever. New data from the Federal Trade Commission reveals that Americans lost over $10 billion to scams and fraud last year, with senior citizens who have nest eggs losing $1.6 billion to financial scams.

Joe Mecca, from Coastal Credit Union in Raleigh, says recognizing these scams can be challenging for these adults and their financial caregivers, as scammers find new ways to tap into people’s money.

“There’s a growing trend right now where [individuals] will reach out, usually through text, [and] pretend to be a wrong number,” Mecca explained. “And what they do is they create a personal relationship with that individual and use it to get them to either ‘invest money’ or they straight up just ask for it.”

Mecca emphasizes that financial caregivers play a crucial role in protecting their loved ones from these scams. By staying on top of their financial relationships and monitoring accounts for suspicious activity, they can help safeguard individuals from being defrauded.

In addition to keeping a close eye on accounts, Mecca advises that the best way to protect yourself is with knowledge about how to keep personal and financial information private.

“One of the things that we see is people themselves are often the weak link in security measures,” Mecca noted. “We like to tell people not to reuse usernames, if possible, and certainly not passwords across multiple websites.”

Mecca adds it’s also beneficial to monitor news from organizations such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission.