A new study from the University of Michigan suggests that the health of older adults is linked to their chances of falling for scams.

According to the study, three out of four older adults say they’ve faced scams through phone calls, texts, emails, mail, or online in the past two years. Three in ten admit to being scammed at least once.

Health matters

The study shows that the health of older adults affects both their ability to spot a scam and their likelihood of being scammed. People between 50 and 80 years old who reported fair or poor physical or mental health, disabilities, or memory issues were more likely to report experiencing fraud.

Even if they hadn’t been scammed, older adults with health problems were less confident in spotting scams. The study also suggests that those living alone or with lower incomes are more vulnerable to scams.

“Our findings of a strong connection between scam vulnerability and health adds important new data to ongoing efforts to reduce the devastating toll of scams on older adults’ finances and well-being,” the researchers explain. “We also found that no matter what their health status, older adults feel strongly that government and businesses should do more to educate and protect against scams.”

Experience with scams

The survey team reached out to a group of adults aged 50 to 80 from across the nation, along with an additional group from Michigan, to gather information about their encounters with scams over the past two years and their views on being aware of and preventing scams.

In general, 75% of respondents shared that they had faced at least one scam attempt in the last two years, and within this group, 39% admitted that the scammers had succeeded in some way.

Breaking it down, 25% of those who experienced a scam reported that scammers had gained access to their bank or credit card accounts or another type of account, 15% had their accounts hacked, 9% lost money, and 3% had their identity stolen.

Detection differences

When the results were analyzed based on health status among those targeted by scams, significant differences emerged. Approximately 50% of older adults who fell into the category of fair or poor physical or mental health, or those with health issues or disabilities restricting daily activities, reported falling victim to fraud, in contrast to 35% to 38% of those in better health or without activity limitations.

There was also a noticeable income gap, with 46% of those earning less than $60,000 annually reporting experiencing fraud from a scam, compared to 36% of those with higher incomes.

Older adults rating their mental health as fair or poor were much more likely to say that a scam had a major impact on their financial, mental, or physical well-being—41% compared to 10% of those with good or excellent mental health.

Detecting scams

While the impact difference was smaller, it remained significant in categories such as memory, health problems or disabilities limiting daily activities, income under $60,000 versus higher incomes, and living alone versus living with others.

Over half (57%) of older adults expressed uncertainty about their ability to identify a scam. This uncertainty was higher—more than 65%—among those with fair or poor physical or mental health, or fair or poor memory, compared to about 55% of those in better health or with better self-rated memory. Women, in general, showed more uncertainty, with 63% expressing doubt about spotting a scam, compared to 49% of men.

When asked about their interest in learning more about recognizing and avoiding scams, and their feelings about needing more protection from scams, the response was nearly universal. A total of 83% of people aged 50 to 80 expressed a desire to learn more about self-protection, including 90% of those lacking confidence in spotting scams. Additionally, 97% of older adults believed that policymakers should do more to protect people from scams, and 96% agreed that companies should increase their efforts.

Even among those confident in spotting scams or those without recent fraud experiences, the agreement with these statements was just as strong.

“It stands to reason that older adults with health challenges experience fraud more than those without these challenges,” the researchers conclude. “Fraud criminals are master manipulators of emotion, and anyone can experience a scam regardless of age, education, or income. When it comes to fraud susceptibility it’s less about who you are and more about how you are when you are targeted.”