Cyber-enabled imposter scams against older adults in the United States

This paper evaluated three cyber-enabled imposter scams against older adults using Lifestyle Routine Activity Theory. The first section examined the motivated offender’s tools for manipulating older adult targets (social engineering and persuasion) and explained how Artificial Intelligence could increase exposure and susceptibility of imposter victims. The next section focused on the suitable victim by examining how heuristics and impaired cognitive, physical, and psychosocial abilities contributed to the older adult target’s susceptibility to imposter scam by interfering with the process of rational decision-making. The third section examined ways in which capable guardians, in the form of agencies and laws, protected and helped older adult targets from imposter scams. Recommendations regarding the creation of educational programs that teach older adults how to be safer online (i.e., less suitable victims) through evaluating risks, identifying potential imposter scams, and becoming efficient self-advocators were provided.