With scams targeting the pocketbooks of older adults on the rise, Santa Clara County is working to educate its residents on how to recognize and avoid financial fraud.
The county’s Department of Aging and Adult Services teamed up with AARP for a June 16 “scam jam” forum, where fraud prevention experts talked about current scams — such as scammers posing as the IRS requesting back taxes, or a bank asking for account and Social Security numbers to resolve an issue. A 2025 county report shows Adult Protective Services received 4,226 reported allegations of financial exploitation, with nearly half involving scams. Sixty-five percent of those reports were substantiated.
“(The county) is seeing more instances of undue influence and sophisticated scams that specifically target vulnerable older adults,” the report said…