How to Help Your Senior Avoid Financial Fraud

Retirement should be a time for our loved ones to unwind, relax, and cherish the fruits of their hard work. Unfortunately, this period of relaxation is increasingly under threat by financial exploitation–one of the fastest-growing forms of elder abuse.

Just as with handling the physical needs of your senior, it's also important to maintain consistency and protect your aging parent when it comes to the threat of financial fraud. By taking these proactive measures, you can help your senior safeguard their finances and enjoy their golden years with greater peace of mind.

How to Protect Your Seniors from Scams

Unfortunately, seniors are often seen as an easy target for scammers looking to gain access to personal information. Scammers prey on those with vulnerabilities and with challenges such as memory loss, physical limitations, and loneliness—your aging parents can become the perfect, unsuspecting targets. According to a 2016 General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians at Work and Home, eighty-one percent of seniors between the ages of 65 and 74 use the internet to do their banking, make purchases, or maintain relationships. In 2023, this number is inevitably higher. This also means that scammers have easy access to information they shouldn’t have. However, there are several ways to protect your senior from financial scams.

• Start a conversation: It is important to be proactive when it comes to your senior’s financial health. Take the time to teach your aging parent about how fraudsters work, and how to avoid becoming a victim. Encourage them to keep confidential information to themselves and to never provide these details to anyone unless they are a trusted professional.
• Keep an eye on their accounts: Monitor your senior’s financial accounts and watch out for any fraudulent charges or suspicious activity. Teach them to do this for themselves. Make sure to report any discrepancies immediately.
• Secure personal information: To ensure the safety of your seniors’ personal information, make sure that you keep all important documents in a secure location.
• Secure their devices: Help your aging parents avoid fraud by blocking spam calls, installing adblockers and antivirus software on their computers, and flagging any suspicious emails as spam.
• Hire financial assistance: Consider hiring a financial advisor to provide guidance on how to manage your senior’s finances and what to watch out for in the latest scam attempts.

How to Protect Seniors from Identify Theft

Scammers are masters of disguise and will often pose as trusted individuals to trick seniors into giving out information like their social security number, account details, and passwords. Teach your loved ones these tips to safeguard their identity.

• Be wary of unsolicited phone calls and emails: Make sure your loved ones know not to give out any identifying information over the phone. If they are asked to do so, they should cease contact immediately and try to contact the caller’s alleged institution using their official phone number.
• Create unique passwords: Help your aging parent by resetting compromised passwords and creating new passwords with special characters, numbers, or a long phrase. This will make hacking personal accounts difficult for scammers looking for an easy way in.
• Appoint a power of attorney: A trusted power of attorney may need to assume financial responsibility if your aging parent needs help maintaining their financial security.
• Consult the CAFC: Before conducting business with an unfamiliar company, check their status with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre to ensure they are a legitimate company and not a scammer in disguise.

Protect Your Parents from Financial Abuse—We Can Take Care of the Rest!

It is important to be proactive and give your seniors the tools they need to protect themselves from fraud. With a bit of guidance and education on the dangers of financial abuse, your aging parents can avoid financial scams. Personal care workers cannot provide financial fraud assistance due to it being outside of their professional training. However, a home care worker can provide other types of home care, such as grocery shopping, cooking, nurse supervised care, personal care assistance, companionship, and even tailored home care services. When you need live-in elder care, Home Instead is here to provide you with the solutions your senior needs to live their best life. Connect with us to learn more about our services and what our home care professionals can do for your senior.

Call us at (905) 597-4757 to schedule a no-obligation, in-home consultation. Learn more about the compassionate, quality senior care we deliver every day to families in Richmond Hill, Vaughan communities of Maple & Concord, Thornhill.