Orlando, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — The New York Times reports Americans over 70 control $53 trillion in wealth and cybercrime against elders is skyrocketing! The Federal Trade Commission reports older adults lost 2.4 billion dollars to scams last year, a sharp increase from just a few years ago. Now, a new study is taking a closer look at what really makes someone vulnerable and why even people who think they’re scam-proof may not be.
Bryan Thomas is 82 years old, a lawyer who graduated from Duke. He reads the news on his iPad before his morning alarm goes off. Does the New York Times crossword in pen and exercises before the sun comes up.
He thought he was scam-proof.
“I’m very good at detecting scams ’because I haven’t been scammed,” said Bryan Thomas, 82-years-old.
Until he was put to the test! Bryan was part of a new study led by researchers at the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida, and the University of Miami. Participants were shown fake news articles, fraudulent emails, videos of people lying and even AI deepfakes designed to mirror real-world scams.
“We’re studying some of the ways that we could detect if someone has a particular vulnerability in the social emotional space,” said Nichole Lighthall, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology University of Central Florida.
Researchers looked at cognitive factors but also social and emotional factors like loneliness, social connection, and family ties, including grandchildren. Participants completed a four-hour series of tests, from spotting fake news to reading facial expressions and body language.
“One of the things was just trying to figure out a person’s emotions only by seeing the eyes,” explained Thomas.
Researchers also looked at how quickly someone can make a decision.
“Even if someone has the cognitive abilities to think their way through these scenarios, if they don’t have enough time, then they often can fall victims,” said Lighthall.
The results were surprising, even to the researchers. In fact, older and younger adults in separate studies performed about the same when it came to fake news and email scams. Where older adults struggled more? AI deepfakes. For Bryan, the experience was a wake-up call and now, he has a warning for others.
“If you think there’s any possibility it’s a scam, don’t do it,” said Thomas.
Experts say one of the biggest red flags in any scam is a time crunch when you’re pressured to act fast. And Bryan’s advice is simple: never assume you’re scam-proof and when in doubt, slow down and verify. Researchers are now developing a toolkit designed to help seniors better recognize and respond to modern scams including AI generated ones with testing set to begin later this year.
Professor Lighthall says that on these more social tasks both healthy and cognitively impaired older adults showed a “truth bias” meaning they were more likely believe all the stories were true and faces were real.
Contributors to this news report include: Marcy Wilder, Producer; Bob Walko, Editor.
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Sources:
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/13/financial-fraud-seniors-ftc.html
