Beat Scammers at Their Own Game: Know the Tricks Before They Strike

Protect yourself by familiarizing yourself with scammer tactics Phone scams have exploded into a multi-billion dollar problem, disproportionately affecting seniors. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 68 million Americans fell victim to phone scams in a recent year, with total losses around $39.5 billion¹ . Older adults are especially vulnerable – the FBI reported over $3.4 billion lost by victims age 60+ in 2023, a figure that grew ~11% from the prior year² . By understanding how the scammers operate, you will be better able to recognize a scam, so here is the breakdown.

Here’s how they do it—what to watch for and how to fight back.

Tactic	Example	What to do
Urgency	“You must act now.”	Pause. Hang up. No real emergency ever requires secrecy and instant payment.
Authority	“I’m with the police, IRS, or Microsoft...”	Don’t trust caller ID. Always hang up and call the official number yourself.
Secrecy	“Please don’t tell Mom and Dad.”	Always verify by calling the person directly—even if they told you not to.
Weird Payment	“Send gift cards or Bitcoin.”	Stop. No real company or governmental agency asks for this. If someone makes such a request, it’s a scam.
Caller ID Spoofing:	Bank of America	Scammers can spoof phone numbers to make it look like they are calling from trusted sources like a bank the FBI, IRS, or a family member. Hang up and lookup the phone number of the caller on their website.

1 - Malware Byte Labs, More than a quarter of Americans fell for robocall scam calls in past year, June 1, 2022

2- FBI, Elder Fraud in Focus, April 30, 2024

Think this can’t happen to your family? Think again. The question isn’t if they’ll try—it’s when.

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