By Rose Oswald Poels, WBA president and CEO
Fraud continues to be one of the most pressing, emotionally devastating concerns banks and their customers face today. Older populations remain especially vulnerable to digital scams, as fraudsters understand that many seniors are not digital natives and often possess decades of hard-earned savings. Bankers around the state have dedicated efforts to hosting fraud seminars in their communities — yet the audiences usually targeted by these scams are often the least likely to walk through the door. Many understandably assume, “This could never happen to me,” until a convincing phone call or online relationship places them directly in the crosshairs of a sophisticated, tailored scam.
May 15 was National Senior Fraud Awareness Day, and in June we’ll begin observing Elder Abuse Awareness Month. This time of year is a great opportunity to place a designated focus on an urgent issue that continues to propagate through Wisconsin: the financial exploitation of older adults.
Fraudsters prey on the good intentions, trust, and fear of Wisconsin’s senior population. These schemes are deeply personal. Some of the more devastating attempts take the form of romance scams or so-called “family emergency” scams. Bad actors create convincing online identities through social media, text messages, or phone calls, sometimes building relationships with victims for weeks or months to establish trust. In other cases, criminals weaponize AI to generate voices that sound strikingly familiar using only seconds of audio pulled from social media or online videos of their real family members. A terrified “grandchild” calls, claiming they need bail money or funds to pay an emergency room visit — and older adults, acting out of love, panic, and their own good will, quickly comply.
Bank employees often serve as the last line of defense before a victim’s hard-earned savings are lost forever — sometimes as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is imperative to train employees to recognize the red flags, such as a customer remaining on the phone throughout a transaction or requests to withdraw unusually large sums of cash that deviate from their normal banking behavior. Naturally, these situations place bankers in an extraordinarily difficult position. Employees want to respect a customer’s privacy and autonomy over their own finances, yet they also want to recognize when a request feels suspicious.
Earlier this year, WBA explored this issue in depth through an article on elder fraud in Wisconsin, the work of the Speaker’s Task Force on Elder Services, and real anecdotes from bankers working on the front lines of fraud prevention. This article outlines how scams that weaponize AI have become so sophisticated that fraud prevention is best approached through a strong collaboration of banks, law enforcement, and policymakers. WBA continues to push for legislation that provides banks with additional authority to pause suspicious transactions before irreversible loss occurs.
In addition to our continued advocacy efforts against fraud, WBA provides consumer-facing resources on our website. We encourage banks to print and distribute our handout on Elder Abuse Awareness Month, which outlines several warning signs of scams, like unsolicited contact, urgent requests, promises of prizes, or demands for gift cards.
Fraud prevention starts with awareness and education. We’re excited to see many of you at WBA’s upcoming Fraud Summit on June 3. Everyone from frontline staff to leadership is welcome to attend as fraud prevention continues to be an institution-wide effort.
If you believe an older adult may be experiencing financial exploitation, resources are available through the Wisconsin Elder Abuse Hotline at 1-833-586-0107 and at ReportElderAbuseWI.org. Thank you for the work you and your teams do to both educate and protect customers.
