FRAUD SCENARIO LIBRARY

Elder & Emergency Scams

These scams target elderly individuals by impersonating a loved one in crisis or an authority figure (e.g., law enforcement, or hospital staff) to create urgency and extract money or sensitive information.

How Do Elder & Emergency Scams Work?

Scammers contact victims via phone, email, or messaging apps.

Scammers contact victims via phone, email, or messaging apps.

Scammers contact victims via phone, email, or messaging apps.

They pretend to be a grandchild, relative, or official in distress.

They request immediate funds via wire, gift cards, or crypto to resolve the “emergency.”

They request immediate funds via wire, gift cards, or crypto to resolve the “emergency.”

Emotional manipulation and urgency prevent rational decision-making.

Emotional manipulation and urgency prevent rational decision-making.

Elder & Emergency Scam Detection

Blending Human Insight and Automation

It begins with a frantic customer support call from an elderly user trying to confirm a “grandson’s emergency wire transfer.” Unbeknownst to her, she’s fallen victim to a socially engineered scam - pressured into urgently wiring funds to a fraudster-controlled account.

1

Fingerprint Flags Behavioral Anomalies

Although the transfer is initiated from the customer’s usual device, Fingerprint detects subtle behavioral anomalies - new session patterns, hesitation, and changes in copy/paste or tab usage that suggest potential social engineering.

2

Network & Pattern Analysis

With graph-based tools, analysts surface a pattern: multiple elderly customers sending similar wire amounts to the same small group of recipients. Shared beneficiaries, phone numbers, andor device fingerprints hint at a scam ring targeting vulnerable individuals.

3

Watchlist & Risk Adjustment

The destination account appears on a known internal watchlist tied to past refund fraud. Unit21 dynamically boosts risk scores for the sender and receiver accounts - automatically limiting further high-risk activity.

4

AI Agent Drafts Regulatory Narrative

The analyst uses Unit21’s AI Agent to summarize the key events, document typologies, and prepare a SAR filing with references to known scam indicators - streamlining compliance and protecting the customer.

5

Prevention Tips for Elder & Emergency Scams

  • Verify emergencies through trusted contact methods.
  • Be cautious of urgent payment requests
  • Use family “safe words” for real emergencies.
  • Educate seniors on common scam tactics.
  • Limit personal info shared online.
  • Set up transaction alerts and spending limits.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Elder & Emergency Scams

Why are elderly individuals especially vulnerable to these scams?
What makes these scams so damaging?
Why are Elder & Emergency scams difficult to detect?
What technical weaknesses do scammers exploit?
How do contact validation gaps worsen the issue?
What role do financial institutions play in prevention?
What can be done to stop these scams early?

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