June 15th is World Elderly Abuse Awareness Month (WEAAD)

It is Elder Abuse Awareness Month for the month of June, with June 15th designated as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD). This is a day where we raise global recognition and prevention of the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of older individuals in our communities. WEAAD was established by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse in 2006 and recognized in 2011 by the United Nations as a global awareness day. This day provides communities the opportunity to share their education of elder mistreatment by examining the cultural, social, economic, and demographic factors that contribute to it.

The Rise of Elder Financial Fraud

The risk of financial fraud is higher than it ever has been due to the popularity of the Internet. This has affected individuals of all ages from many angles. Multinational criminal organizations weaponize our human nature against ourselves through fear, greed, and love. This risk of fraud in society is highlighted on this day because older adults suffer the most from these scams. Unlike younger generations, elders typically have more to lose and have less ability to rebuild those losses, making them more vulnerable to financial criminals.

According to an article from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Elder Justice Coalition, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that older generations of Americans lost a total of $2.4 billion dollars to scams in 2024. This reported amount has increased about four times since 2020. In 2025, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received more than 200,000 fraud complaints from the elder demographic, with these individuals losing the most out of every age group with over $7.7 billion. This is almost a 60% increase in losses from the previous year, with the highest percentages coming from investment scams and artificial intelligence (AI) fraud.

Seniors are a common target for scammers since they often have high savings, home equity, and good credit. One fraud method that has been financially damaging as of late is through social media. The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) reported on the top schemes involving elderly victims of 2024. The most common included digital assets, romance investment scams, stocks, social media fraud, and promissory notes. Of the social media scams, fraud involving cryptocurrency appeared the most destructive with related losses totaling over $26 million from Wisconsin seniors alone.

Generative AI is another harmful tactic used by fraudsters to imitate familiar faces or loved ones through voice cloning and deepfakes. For example, a “grandparent scam” could include a deepfaked voice of a grandchild asking for bail money or funds for a medical bill. Criminals also use AI to manipulate trust by pretending to be government agencies (such as Medicare, IRS, or FTC), tech support agents, or romantic interests.

Tactics That Fight Back

One glimmer of hope in this rise of digital fraud is that regulators are using technology to fight against these scammers, shutting down scam sites, issuing alerts to potential victims, and partnering with blockchain and digital asset firms to trace and recover lost funds. Banks do have valuable resources at hand to lead presentations for kids, young adults, and seniors in their communities to help them protect themselves from financial fraud.

Pause. Reflect. Protect.

Assistance from financial institutions and regulators is highly effective towards fighting fraud in our society. The best protection, however, is personal knowledge of prevention. Being proactive against scams is the root to stopping them and can manifest in many ways. Several measures may include creating code words with family to verify identities during urgent calls, adding a trusted contact to investment accounts, and staying alerted to the red flags of financial fraud. Below are common warning signs highlighted by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and the Wisconsin Bankers Association:

• The first contact is an unsolicited text or social media message (Instagram, LinkedIn, or dating apps);
• The scammer creates a problem or a prize to entice the victim in sending funds;
• The scammer encourages moving the conversation to an encrypted messaging service (WhatsApp, Telegram, or Signal);
• The scammer uses terms of endearment early in the relationship;
• The scammer encourages the victim to open a bank or cryptocurrency account;
• The scammer boasts about their successful investments and tries to offer coaching; and
• The scammer is never available to meet in person.

When facing pressure to send in money or expose your personal information, pause, reflect, and protect yourself by asking a trusted friend or relative for their thoughts on the situation. If you have already sent money or shared your information to a scammer, report the scam immediately!

Below are options/resources to report a scam:

• Your local law enforcement
• FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
• Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• Secret Service
  • Email: CryptoFraud@SecretService.gov 

How to Help