"Seniors are the demographic of our population that have the most money," Jay Foley, the president of Max Guard Wealth, said. "When you get into your 60s and 70s, you've kind of accumulated that wealth, and that's probably the point in your life where you have the largest amount of liquid assets, cash investments--things like that. So unfortunately, that makes seniors prime targets for scammers."
Experts estimate that seniors in America lose around $800 million each year to imposter scams.
"We have to remind ourselves that a very large portion of these crimes, these scams, they go unreported because there's a tremendous amount of shame or maybe even denial that they even got scammed," Foley said.
Foley is an expert in the financial world. He tells us there are two types of scams: senior scams and imposter scams.
"Basically, someone claiming that they are not who they claim to be and that they need money immediately to make some invented problem disappear," Foley said.
And investor scams.
"These are the unbelievable investment opportunities that have a sense of urgency attached to them, when we're going to make unbelievable returns with taking very, very little risk, and they sound too good to be true because they are too good to be true," Foley said.
Technology makes both of these scams harder to spot, and AI gives scammers a way to look and sound like just about anyone.
And the toll of falling for one of these scams? Devastating for seniors.
"There's one thing that's not great about retirement is you don't have a paycheck, alright?" Foley said. "And you also don't have unlimited time to offset any financial losses.
"It's scary how fast technology is growing and just making it easier and easier for these criminals and more and more difficult for these seniors that just want to live a nice, comfortable retirement that they've worked their whole lives for," Foley said.
So what do you do if you think someone is trying to scam you?
Immediately record it. Screenshot the call or text. Block the potential scammer, then report it to your state attorney general.
If something doesn't feel right, ask questions and trust your gut.
"The truth doesn't mind being questioned," Foley said. "The truth never, ever, ever mind being questioned. A lie does. A lie means that a lot."
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