By Grant MercerLast updated Oct. 7, 2026Image: Kaboompics.com/Pexels
Advertiser and Editorial Disclosures
Advertiser Disclosure. The Daily Overview is supported by the companies featured on this page. When you click a link and sign up, buy or request a quote, we may receive a commission. That can influence which products we write about and where they appear, but not what we say about them. Some links go to guides sold by RetireShield, a sister company. We do not cover every company or offer available.
Editorial Disclosure. Figures on this page come from the official source linked beside them and were checked on the date shown. Offer terms are set by each company and can change; confirm them on the company’s own site before you sign up. Nothing here is personal financial, tax or legal advice.
People 60 and older reported $7.7 billion in losses1 to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2025, about 60% more than the year before and more than any other age group. And those are only the losses people reported.
Most of it didn’t take a hacker. It took a phone call, a text or a pop-up from someone pretending to be a bank, a grandchild, tech support or a government agency, and a target whose name and number were easy to buy.
No single step stops every scam, but layers make you a much harder target. Here’s how to lock things down, starting with the steps that close the most common doors:
Scam Calls: Get your name off the lists scammers buy
Ever wonder how a scammer knows your name, your age, your address, even your grandson’s name? They buy it. Data brokers and people-search sites collect that information and sell it to anyone who asks.
Incogni sends removal requests to data brokers and people-search sites on your behalf and keeps re-sending them, because many of those sites quietly re-list people over time. Less of your information out there can mean fewer scam calls, texts and emails.
You can see the status of every removal request in your account.
See how Incogni removes your info from data broker lists
People 50 and older reported $4.3 billion lost to fraud to the Federal Trade Commission in 2025, compared with $2.3 billion for younger adults.
Identity Theft: Know the moment someone opens an account in your name
Most people find out their identity was stolen when a bill or collection notice shows up for an account they never opened, months after the damage is done.
IdentityIQ monitors your credit reports and alerts you to new accounts, hard inquiries and other changes, so fraud gets caught in days instead of months. It’s a paid monthly service.
Start credit and identity monitoring with IdentityIQ
Spam Calls: Give out a masked number instead of your real one
Every time you give your real phone number to a store, a pharmacy rewards program or a website, it can end up in a data breach or on a list that gets sold. That’s how the scam calls start.
Cloaked gives you masked phone numbers and email addresses to hand out instead of your real ones, and lets you block or forward calls and messages from each. If one starts getting spam, you shut it off.
See how Cloaked masks your phone number and email
See What Scammers See: Look yourself up
The grandparent scam works because scammers already know your grandchild’s name, your town and your phone number. Most of that is sitting in public records and people-search sites.
BeenVerified searches those same public records, so you can see what a stranger can find out about you in a few minutes, from past addresses to relatives’ names.
Then set up a family code word that only real family members know. If a panicked caller can’t say it, hang up and call your family member back on the number you already have.
Run a search on yourself with BeenVerified
Money Already Sent: Know what to do in the first hour
When money goes out to a scammer, the first hour matters more than anything that comes after. Banks can sometimes recall a wire or stop a transfer if they hear about it fast, and every hour of delay lowers the odds.
RetireShield’s Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit gives you the step-by-step first-hour plan, the family code word setup, the free credit freeze steps and a log for every report you file, so you’re not figuring it out in a panic.
Get the Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit
Save your bank’s fraud phone number in your contacts today. If money goes out to a scammer, calling within the first hour gives the bank its best chance to stop it.
Social Security Impostors: Protect your monthly payment
Scammers impersonating Social Security try to scare people into "verifying" their number, paying a fake fine, or changing where their payment is deposited. Real Social Security employees will never threaten you, demand immediate payment or ask for gift cards.
RetireShield’s Social Security Check Protection Kit includes the payment calendar and a first-24-hours plan if a payment is late or missing, so you know what’s real before anyone calls.
Get the Social Security Check Protection Kit
Medicare Fraud: Catch charges for care you never got
Scammers who get your Medicare number bill for equipment, tests and visits you never had. It drains your benefits, and it can show up later as a denied claim when you actually need the care.
The only way to catch it is to read your Medicare statements, and most people don’t. RetireShield’s Medicare Cost & Coverage Protection Kit shows you how to read a Medicare Summary Notice line by line and what to do when something doesn’t match.
Get the Medicare Cost & Coverage Protection Kit
Investment Scams: Get a second opinion before moving savings
Investment scams now cause some of the largest losses among older adults. Most start the same way: pressure to move savings quickly into crypto, gold or a "safe" account, and a request to keep it quiet from family.
An independent advisor with nothing to gain from the move is a strong brake. Datalign Advisory matches you with financial advisors in your area. Ask any advisor exactly how they’re paid.
Get matched with a financial advisor near you
Gold Courier Scams: Before you move any retirement money, learn how a gold IRA works
The FBI has warned about scammers who convince retirees their bank accounts are compromised, then talk them into converting savings into gold bars that a "courier" picks up from their home. The gold, and the courier, are never seen again.
A move like the ones in this report is easier to judge with the rules in front of you. Birch Gold Group's free Insider's Guide to Gold IRAs walks through how a gold IRA is opened and funded, and a precious metals specialist answers questions before you decide anything.
Get the free Insider's Guide to Gold IRAs from Birch Gold Group →
Caregiver and Family Fraud: Decide now who can act for you
A lot of elder financial abuse isn’t a stranger on the phone. It’s someone close who gets access to accounts after an illness or a fall, with nothing in writing saying what they can and can’t do. A durable power of attorney, a will and a health care directive put your choices on paper before anyone has to guess.
LegalZoom lets you create those documents online with state-specific forms, without paying hourly attorney rates.
Create your will and power of attorney with LegalZoom
Medicare Calls: Get plan help from a licensed source, not a cold caller
Every fall during Open Enrollment, calls about "new Medicare cards," plan refunds and free equipment spike. Medicare doesn’t call to ask for your Medicare number, and you should never give it to someone who called you.
If you want help comparing plans, go to a licensed source you chose yourself. GoHealth has licensed agents who compare plans from multiple insurers, and it costs you nothing to use.
If you’re ever unsure whether a call is real, hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE yourself.
Compare Medicare plans with a licensed agent at GoHealth
We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.
A Phone Built for Emergencies: Get a trained agent on the line with one button
When a call feels wrong, or something goes wrong at home, many older adults don’t know who to call first. Lively, the company behind the Jitterbug phone, builds that into the phone itself.
Lively phones come with an optional urgent response button that connects you to a trained agent 24/7, who can stay on the line, call family or send help.
Plans are paid monthly and the phones are designed with larger buttons and simpler menus.
See Lively's phones and urgent response plans
Fake Refunds and Settlements: Know what real ones look like
Real class-action settlements and state unclaimed property programs never charge a fee to pay you. Scammers copy their language to collect an upfront "processing fee" or your bank details.
RetireShield’s Settlement & Refund Recovery System lays out the scam-proof rules and the official places money actually sits, so you can check any offer against the real thing before you respond.
See the scam-proof rules in the Settlement & Refund Recovery System
Fake Debt Collectors: Know what a real one can and can't do
Fake debt collectors call retirees about debts that were paid years ago, or never existed, and threaten arrest or a frozen Social Security check if you don’t pay today. Real collectors can’t do either.
RetireShield’s Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit explains which of your income can’t be garnished, how to demand written proof of a debt, and the letters to send before you pay anyone.
Get the Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit
Already Hit: Clean up your credit report after identity theft
If someone opened accounts in your name, those accounts and the late payments that follow can drag down your credit for years.
Every fraudulent item needs to be disputed with each bureau. Credit Saint handles disputes for you and follows up with the bureaus and creditors.
It’s a paid service, and it can only remove items that are inaccurate or can’t be verified, which fraudulent accounts are.
See how Credit Saint disputes inaccurate items
If you only do three things on this list, get your information off broker sites, turn on credit monitoring, and set up a family code word. Those three alone shut down most of the scams aimed at retirees.
For new scam warnings as they start circulating, sign up for the free Retirement Money Brief.
