If you're helping an older adult manage their finances, you're probably already on alert for scams and other types of elder financial abuse. Phone calls asking for gift cards. Suspicious emails. Strangers claiming to be from the IRS. Those threats haven't gone away, but they have gotten a lot harder to recognize in this day and age. 

According to FBI data, seniors in the U.S. lost $4.88 billion to fraud in 2024, and the tools scammers are using have become significantly more convincing. In fact, reports of AI-enabled scams jumped 456% between mid-2024 and mid-2025. Below we’ll cover the latest scams and what you can do to help protect the person you're supporting from fraud.

Top AI scams in 2026

The scams targeting older adults today aren't phone calls with bad grammar or garbled voices anymore. AI-driven elder fraud uses artificial intelligence to make attacks more convincing, harder to detect, and easier to carry out at scale. What once might have seemed like an obvious red flag can now look and sound completely legitimate, leading to greater risk of financial loss.

Voice cloning and the "Grandparent Scam" 

This is one of the oldest emotional manipulation tactics, and has become much more convincing and dangerous through the use of AI. Using just a few seconds of audio from a social media video or voicemail, scammers can replicate a person's voice with surprising accuracy. They use it to call an older adult, pretending to be a grandchild or other family member in crisis, claiming they’ve been arrested, in an accident, or need bail money immediately.

In one example, a scammer might scan public social media to learn a grandchild's name, see that they're traveling abroad, and note what the grandchild calls their grandparent. Then, they use that information alongside a cloned voice to make the call feel completely legitimate.

Helpful Tip: Set up a family code word that anyone can use to verify their identity in a real emergency. Tell your loved one that if a "family member" calls in distress, they should hang up and call them back directly if possible before doing anything else.

Fake tech support and fraud department scams

In the tech support version of these calls, scammers pose as IT workers from well-known companies, telling someone that their computer, ipad, or smartphone has a virus and that everything on it is at risk. Once remote access is granted, they install malware, steal login credentials, and gain access to financial accounts. Or, even more directly, the scammers may ask for credit card information as payment to “solve” the problem.

A similar scam involves con artists pretending to call from a victim's bank claiming to be from the fraud department about a suspicious charge. This creates urgency and pressure which can influence their target to hand over their financial account information to look into their case. 

These scams are among the most commonly reported by older adults, and AI makes the impersonation more seamless. The caller may know the person's name, their bank, and even recent account details gathered from previous data breaches.

Helpful Tip: Remind your loved one that banks and tech companies will never call out of the blue (or email them) asking for access to their computer or accounts. If it happens, hang up and call the company back using a number from their official website.

AI phishing via emails and text messages

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Tricking someone into clicking a malicious link or sharing personal information (known as “phishing”), has been going on for decades, but now it's even more targeted. An experiment led by Harvard University and Reuters demonstrated how scammers are using AI chatbots to create highly effective phishing emails targeting seniors, with an estimated 82% of phishing emails now using AI to bypass traditional detection.

Text message phishing (sometimes called "smishing") is also surging — fake package delivery notices, unpaid toll alerts, and bank security warnings are common messages.

Helpful Tip: The rule of thumb is simple: don't click links in unsolicited messages. If the communication seems urgent, go directly to the company's website or call them using a number you look up yourself. 

Deepfake and misleading videos

While video imitation by scammers isn’t used as much as voice cloning right now, it will likely become more common as technology advances. And even today’s AI tools can generate realistic videos of a person saying or doing something they never actually said or did. Scammers have used this to impersonate financial advisors, family members, or even government officials in video calls or recorded messages.

Helpful Tip: If something about a video or video call feels off (e.g. lighting, voice lagging, unnatural pauses) it's okay to end the call and reach out through a different, verified channel.

How to help protect an older adult from scams

1. Have a conversation, but not from a place of fear

A calm, matter-of-fact conversation can go a long way. You don't need to cover every scam in detail. Focus on a few key habits:

• Stop engaging with any outreach that feels urgent or pressuring; if it’s real, there will be another opportunity to engage 
• Never send money via wire transfer, gift card, check or cash to anyone they haven't met in person
• Always check with a trusted person before acting on an unexpected request

A potential way to start the conversation: "I've been reading about some new scams that are hard to recognize even for smart, careful people. Can we come up with a plan for what to do if you ever get a call or message that feels off?"

2. Limit personal information shared publicly 

Scammers use information from social media and other public profiles to make their pitches more convincing. Encourage your loved one to review their privacy settings and be thoughtful about what gets posted online, especially travel plans, family members' names, or financial milestones. And this doesn’t just apply to the older adults in your life; anyone’s public information can be used to target people they know.

3. Set up practical safeguards on their financial accounts

Awareness of common scams is a good start, but there are further actions you can take to help safeguard your loved ones' finances. Think of these steps as building a safety net: each layer makes it harder for a scam to succeed even if your loved one doesn't recognize it at the moment.

• Enable automatic alerts for transactions over a set amount, so unusual activity surfaces quickly rather than going unnoticed.
• Set up two-factor authentication on financial accounts to make it significantly harder for anyone who gets hold of a password to actually access funds.
• Consider a credit freeze. A freeze prevents new credit accounts from being opened in your loved one's name. It's free, takes about 10 minutes per bureau (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) and can be temporarily lifted whenever they need to apply for credit. The FTC's credit freeze guide walks through the process and also explains the difference between a freeze and a fraud alert.
• If cash or unmonitored spending is a concern, a prepaid card with customizable spending settings can allow your loved one to buy what they need while helping to protect them from common scams and predatory tactics. Our True Link platform is designed specifically for these use cases, family members and caregivers monitor spending in real time and set rules around specific categories or transaction types you want to block. 

4. Make it easy to report and ask questions

Reassure your loved one that there's no shame in getting a suspicious call or message, and that telling you about it is always the right move. The goal isn't to make them feel watched; it's to make sure they know they're not handling this alone.

If a scam attempt does occur, it can be reported to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov or to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. AARP's Fraud Watch Network Helpline (877-908-3360) also offers free support to everyone. 

5. Stay informed

Scam tactics change fast. The FTC publishes regular consumer alerts about new and emerging scams, you can sign up for free email updates here (look for the "Get Consumer Alerts" link at the top of the page). Their alerts cover everything from phishing trends to new grandparent scam variations.