According to California Mobility.com, adults 60 and older lost over $1.9 billion to fraud. The website shared that credit card fraud was the most common form of identity theft for adults ages 70-79.
The California Mobility.com report also shared that investment scams were the costliest for adults 60 and older. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) is utilized more and more, the website shared AI-driven scams could cost the elderly as much as $100 billion on 2025.
The bottom line—senior citizens are being targeted more than ever and Chase Bank understands this and is doing something about it.
“Unfortunately, as beautiful as the holiday season can be for families, it’s also the season where fraudsters are working in full effect to try to defraud our customers, take advantage of people that don’t have access to information,” said Jonathan Morales, head of community banking for Chase in California.
Recently, the Crenshaw Branch of Chase Bank held a financial education event on elder abuse and protecting the elderly from scams at the Chase Crenshaw Community Center located at 4401 Crenshaw Blvd in Los Angeles. Speakers at the event included Chase Community Manager Tatiana Roberts, Lori Mars from the National Center for Elderly Abuse (NCEA) at USC; and a representative from the FBI – Los Angeles Field Office.
Related Stories:
https://lasentinel.net/chase-bank-opens-new-community-center-in-crenshaw-district.html
“We opened our doors to have an honest dialogue about fraud prevention,” said Morales.
“What we try to do is one, just normalize the conversation around how to identify it and give hopefully some tips and tools and resources on how to not become a victim but more importantly, to create a space where we can have conversations when you are a victim, that you know, you’re not alone and that you actually have some resources to try to help you.”
As online shopping is becoming the preferred way of shopping, it’s crucial to equip seniors and everyone else with the knowledge to distinguish between legitimate offers and scams. This event covered the do’s and don’ts of online transactions, recognizing the signs of scams, and understanding tactics used in other common scams like romance scams and AI impersonation scams.
The event focused heavily on financial education for senior citizens, aiming to help them avoid online scams and AI impersonation scams, especially during the holiday shopping season. Panelists engaged the community in activities and had a Q and A session. They also shared some tips seniors and caregivers can use now to not fall prey to scammers and be better prepared.
“I think the first tip is to organize all of your documents and know exactly where your accounts are and also have a conversation with a trusted person so, that they also know where your documents are and what accounts you have,” said Roberts.
“Stay connected and engage in social activities,” said Mars. “Connect with the community, faith networks—that’s a good prevention and intervention.”
Mars continued, “We do provide presentations on caregiving as well. It’s important to reach out for help when you need it–education tools and resources are available so, please reach out.
“There are lots of avenues for information like the Alzheimer’s Association, the Los Angeles Caregiver Resource Center, locally, there are other places and we have information on our own website, the National Center on Elder Abuse on caregiving tips and tools and best practices.”
For more information, visit www.chase.com/digital/resources/privacy-security/financial-abuse or eldermistreatment.usc.edu/.
