Responding to Elder Financial Fraud With a Program for Caregivers

Senior citizens are frequently the target of financial scams. According to a recent FBI report on elder fraud, the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center — its hub for reporting cyber-enabled crime — receives more complaints of fraud from U.S. citizens over the age of 60 than from any other age group.

Huntington Bank recently rolled out a program called Caregiver Banking to support individuals who need help managing their finances. The program allows individuals who require aid in keeping their personal finances in order to share access to their Huntington accounts with a professional caregiver or another trustworthy person in their lives, such as a friend or family member.

Many people, including older individuals and those recovering from illness, need support in handling their day-to-day finances. Huntington first offered Caregiver Banking in December 2024. Brant Standridge, Huntington’s President of Consumer and Regional Banking, spoke at the company’s recent investor day where he reported that initial response to Caregiver Banking has been positive.

“We believe we’re onto something, and we’re going to continue to build on this platform,” Standridge said.

Michael D. Nordwall, an Assistant Director with the FBI in the agency’s Criminal Investigative Division, explained the FBI’s stance on elder fraud in a report.

“Combatting the financial exploitation of those over 60 years of age continues to be a priority of the FBI,” Nordwall wrote. “Along with our partners, we continually work to aid victims and to identify and investigate the individuals and criminal organizations that perpetrate these schemes and target the elderly.”

Not everyone who’s a victim of a financial scam reports it to the FBI or their local police department, which makes it difficult to gauge the total financial impact of elder fraud. But a recent report from the Federal Trade Commission estimates that financial scams against older Americans in 2023 resulted in losses that could be as high as $61.5 billion.

Older individuals undergo a number of life changes, including retirement and a dwindling social circle that may leave them feeling marginalized in society. But seniors are a vital customer group to many financial institutions. 

Banks rely on core deposits to maintain healthy operations. And risk-averse seniors tend to keep a higher percentage of their savings in bank coffers in the form of CDs and high-yield savings accounts. Their younger counterparts may not mind the risk and reward of exotic investing instruments. That leaves banks with a financial motivation to help older individuals protect their money from fraudulent scams.

Tools such as multifactor authentication help financial institutions confirm customer identities, and debit and credit card controls can help individuals manage their cards remotely when they’re lost or stolen.

But fraud against older individuals can be difficult to prevent because it often involves the victim cooperating with a criminal who’s deceived them into handing over access to password-protected online accounts. 

The FBI’s report on elder fraud revealed that tech support fraud — where criminals masquerade as legitimate tech company employees to gain illegal access to a victim’s money — is the number one type of fraud impacting individuals over 60.

That’s why Huntington’s program that involves a caregiver in preventing elder financial fraud makes all the difference. A caregiver can step in to prevent an older individual from falling for tech support or romance scams.

“We are actually the only bank in the country currently addressing this need, and we are superconfident in the future success as we continue to evolve this program,” Standridge said.

A group of federal and state agencies, including the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, recently released a letter outlining steps financial institutions can take to mitigate elder financial exploitation.

Among the strategies the letter recommends banks and credit unions employ to lessen elder fraud are:

• Training employees to understand the many types of financial exploitation that criminals attempt. Financial institutions should also work with staff to help them identify red flags that may point to an attempt at elder financial fraud.
• Working with law enforcement agencies and adult protective services to report fraud and suspicions of elder financial exploitation. 
• Developing governance policies that manage risk and allow for transaction monitoring processes that screen for signs of elder financial fraud.
• Permitting account holders to designate a trusted contact, such as a family member, friend, accountant, or attorney, whom a bank can contact in the event of suspected fraud.

Huntington’s Caregiver Banking program allows the trusted individual on the account to monitor the account holder’s account activity. In addition to deposit accounts, Caregiver Banking participants can share credit card, investment, and trust account information with their designated caregiver. Caregivers can also pay bills online on behalf of the account holder and transfer funds between Huntington accounts.

Caregivers participating in Caregiver Banking establish their own name and password, keeping the account holders’ credentials secure. Huntington’s website states the bank has “safeguards in place to help protect the account owner’s information.”

Huntington’s rollout of Caregiver Banking comes at a time when the bank is aiming to grow its customer base via a 55-branch expansion into North and South Carolina. The bank expects to break ground on the new branches in 2026.

Part of the bank’s growth strategy includes keying in on niches that differentiate Huntington from other banks in the markets it serves.

“What we’re trying to do with our customer value proposition work is to really understand some unique places where we want to own it because we think we can do something that’s different in the industry,” Standridge said. “Caregiver banking (is an example) where there’s no one else offering that solution in the market today.”