The call came just before Thanksgiving. The 76-year-old Rhode Island woman didn’t recognize the number but answered anyway.
The man on the other end said he was an officer with the Department of Criminal Investigations investigating drug trafficking and money laundering. He seemed to know personal details about her — where she and her late husband had lived, his occupation, and her current address.
On her phone, he even displayed what looked like a badge and official identification.
“You can hire a very expensive criminal defense attorney, or you can cooperate with me,” he told her.
Frightened she might be arrested, the woman agreed to cooperate. The man — who identified himself only as “Frank” — began calling every morning, asking where she was going and warning that investigators were watching her movements. She became so fearful she looked around while driving to garden club meetings, wondering if someone was following her.
It was all a scam.
The caller’s goal was to get access to her money. First, he urged her to move about $250,000 from an investment account into her checking account. When that failed, he directed her to withdraw $70,000 in cash from a home-equity line of credit.
At her local bank, a teller hesitated. Quietly alerting the branch manager — who had known the woman and her husband for years — the bank intervened and contacted police.
The money never left her account.
Cases like hers are becoming increasingly common as scammers target older adults and financial institutions step up efforts to stop them before life savings disappear.
Financial predators targeting older adults represent “a heightened focus for us now,” said Mary Noons, president and chief operating officer of Washington Trust.
Banks and investment firms increasingly find themselves on the front lines of fraud prevention as scams targeting seniors grow more sophisticated. The Federal Trade Commission reported $2.4 billion in fraud losses among older adults in 2024, driven largely by investment scams, romance scams and impersonation schemes. AARP estimates Americans age 60 and older lose more than $28 billion annually to financial exploitation.
As the population ages and criminals adopt new tactics, financial institutions are expanding efforts to protect customers before money disappears.
Washington Trust, a regional community bank, has stepped up efforts to educate both staff members and customers about elder fraud and financial exploitation. The bank distributes a booklet called Age With Wisdom and recently brought in an expert on dementia to help employees understand how cognitive decline can increase financial vulnerability.
The bank is also among more than 1,500 financial institutions using BankSafe, a free training program developed by AARP that teaches front-line staff how to recognize warning signs of possible financial exploitation and how to respond.
“Some older customers visit their bank far more frequently than they see their health care providers,” Noons said, making bank employees an important line of defense.
Until recent years, financial institutions often prioritized customer autonomy, said Pamela Teaster, director of the Virginia Tech Center for Gerontology and an elder abuse researcher.
“The thinking was that adults have the capacity to make poor choices, and we’re going to let them make them,” she said.
But new laws and industry policies now encourage banks to intervene when suspicious transactions appear. The Senior Safe Act, passed by Congress in 2018, protects financial institutions from liability when employees report suspected elder financial abuse.
Financial regulators have also strengthened protections. Brokerage firms are now encouraged to ask investors to identify a trusted contact person when accounts are opened or updated. Firms can also place temporary holds on certain transactions involving older investors if they suspect exploitation.
“It adds friction,” said Jilenne Gunther, director of BankSafe. “With space and time, the criminal gets worried and might move on.”
Even without criminals involved, financial decision-making can become more difficult with age.
Managing money requires complex cognitive skills, said Dr. Mark Lachs, co-chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. It requires memory, planning, and the ability to think about future risks and consequences.
Researchers have found credit problems and missed payments often increase several years before a dementia diagnosis, sometimes serving as one of the earliest warning signs of cognitive decline.
Advocates also worry about new tools scammers are using — including artificial intelligence voice cloning that can mimic the voice of a family member asking urgently for money.
The New Old Age is produced through a partnership with The New York Times.
Financial predators targeting older adults represent “a heightened focus for us now,” said Mary Noons, president and chief operating officer of Washington Trust.
Banks and investment firms increasingly find themselves on the front lines of fraud prevention as scams targeting seniors grow more sophisticated. The Federal Trade Commission reported $2.4 billion in fraud losses among older adults in 2024, driven largely by investment scams, romance scams and impersonation schemes. AARP estimates Americans age 60 and older lose more than $28 billion each year to financial exploitation.
To combat the problem, many financial institutions are training employees to recognize warning signs and intervene when something seems suspicious.
Washington Trust, a regional community bank, recently expanded efforts to educate both staff and customers about elder fraud. The bank distributes a booklet called Age With Wisdom and brought in an expert on dementia to train employees.
It is also among more than 1,500 financial institutions using BankSafe, a free training program developed by AARP that helps front-line staff identify red flags of financial exploitation.
“Some older customers visit their bank far more frequently than they see their health care providers,” Noons said.
Until recently, banks tended to prioritize customer autonomy, said Pamela Teaster, director of the Virginia Tech Center for Gerontology.
“The thinking was that adults have the capacity to make poor choices, and we’re going to let them make them,” she said.
But new policies have encouraged banks to intervene when they suspect exploitation. The Senior Safe Act, passed by Congress in 2018, protects financial institutions from liability when employees report suspected elder abuse.
Financial regulators have also strengthened protections. Brokerage firms are now encouraged to ask investors to name a trusted contact person when accounts are opened or updated, and firms can place temporary holds on suspicious transactions involving older customers.
The goal, advocates say, is to slow down suspicious transactions and give both banks and potential victims time to recognize what may be happening.
“It adds friction,” said Jilenne Gunther, director of BankSafe. “With space and time, the criminal gets worried and might move on.”
Even with those protections, experts say financial decision-making can become more difficult with age.
Managing money requires complex cognitive skills, said Dr. Mark Lachs, co-chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. Problems with finances can sometimes be one of the earliest signs of cognitive decline.
Researchers have found credit problems and missed payments often increase years before a dementia diagnosis.
Advocates warn that new technologies, including artificial intelligence voice cloning, may make scams even more convincing — and harder to detect.
The New Old Age is produced through a partnership with The New York Times.