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

Lauren R. Shapiro (2025) — Security Journal

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DOI: 10.1057/s41284-025-00483-3 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   United States
Tags:   AI-Enabled Fraud, Financial Fraud, Imposter Scams, Lifestyle Routine Activity Theory, Older Adults, Prevention, Romance Scams, Social Engineering
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Synopsis

            
The article by Lauren R. Shapiro examines cyber-enabled imposter scams targeting older adults in the United States through the lens of Lifestyle Routine Activity Theory (LRAT). The study analyzes how offenders use social engineering and persuasion to lure older adults, and how advances in artificial intelligence may increase both exposure and susceptibility. It then considers the older adult as a “suitable target,” focusing on factors such as cognitive, physical, and psychosocial impairments that can interfere with rational decision-making. A third focus is the role of capable guardians, such as federal agencies and laws, in protecting older adults and guiding prevention efforts. The work centers on three representative scams—Romance scams, Grandparent scams, and Auto-renewal subscription scams—and describes how each unfolds across four stages: research, hook, exploit, and exit, highlighting the different modalities of initial contact (phone, email, website/app/social media) and the social engineering techniques that imposters deploy. The article outlines how these scams exploit emotional and cognitive heuristics to overwhelm targets and pressures them into sharing information or making payments. It details social engineering mechanisms used across the three scam types, including impersonation, phishing, vishing, smishing, baiting, and the use of deep fakes or AI-generated content to enhance legitimacy. It also reviews current guardian measures, such as FTC and FBI initiatives, consumer education campaigns, and elder fraud hotlines, and discusses education and training approaches designed to reduce older adults’ victimization. The discussion notes limitations of LRAT in capturing macro-level risk factors and underlines the need for ongoing, evaluative prevention programs tailored to diverse abilities among older adults. The article contributes by linking risk factors to practical education and policy strategies aimed at reducing suitability as targets and strengthening protective supports.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
Prior work lacked a systematic examination of psychological and individual factors underlying imposter-scam compliance and how these factors appear in specific scam types. The LRAT approach also underexamines macro-level conditions that enable scams and has not sufficiently specified which risky online routines predispose older adults to victimization.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
This is a theory-driven, narrative synthesis applying Lifestyle Routine Activity Theory to romance, grandparent, and auto-renewal imposter scams affecting U.S. older adults. It organizes cited literature, agency reports, scam descriptions, and legal materials around motivated offenders, suitable targets, and capable guardians. No original dataset or empirical analysis was used.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The author identifies that LRAT does not adequately account for macro-level societal and systemic conditions that enable cyber-enabled scams or motivate offenders. Its explanatory utility also depends on restricting analysis to online routine activities that are genuinely risky. The article contains no original data, so its conclusions are conceptual and dependent on the cited literature.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Research should identify macro-level factors that moderate offenders’ roles in cyber-enabled scam victimization of older adults and determine which dangerous online routine activities should be examined. Prevention programs should also be independently evaluated and continually reassessed as scam risks change.

          

              

    
    

        
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