How to Protect Your Wealth From AI Scams and Cyber Fraud
- Matthew Boersen, CFP®, CFA
- Aug 10
- 5 min read
Technology has made managing your financial life more convenient than ever. Retirement accounts can be reviewed from your phone, money can be transferred in seconds, and important documents can be accessed without leaving home. That convenience also creates new opportunities for fraud.
In 2025, individuals age 60 and older filed 201,266 complaints with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center and reported $7.748 billion in losses, an average reported loss of $38,500. The same report identified 22,364 complaints involving AI-related information, representing more than $893 million in adjusted losses.[1]
For retirees, the consequences can be particularly damaging. Once a regular paycheck stops, money lost to fraud may be difficult to replace. Protecting your retirement therefore involves more than choosing investments and creating an income plan. It also requires safeguards for how your accounts, identity, and personal information can be accessed.
AI Has Changed How Scams Look
Scams still rely on familiar tactics: urgency, fear, secrecy, and pressure. What has changed is how convincing they can appear.
Artificial intelligence can help criminals create voice messages that sound like a family member, professional-looking emails, fake online profiles, altered videos, and personalized messages that appear to come from a trusted organization. The FBI has warned that AI-generated content can increase the believability and scale of financial fraud, while the Federal Trade Commission has specifically cautioned consumers about family-emergency scams involving cloned voices.[1][2]
The goal is to make you react before you have time to think. You may be told that a loved one is in danger, your account has been compromised, or your money must be moved immediately.
No matter how convincing the message sounds, pause before acting. Contact the person, company, or financial institution through a phone number or application you already know is legitimate. Do not use the contact information included in the unexpected message.
Why Retirement Can Create Additional Exposure
Retirement often involves several financial transitions happening at once. You may be consolidating old retirement plans, beginning portfolio withdrawals, changing banks, enrolling in Social Security, or communicating with financial and tax professionals more frequently.
Early retirees may also spend several years managing health insurance before becoming eligible for Medicare. Once Medicare begins, new cards, plan decisions, claims, and legitimate communications enter the picture. Scammers may use that activity to make an unexpected request appear routine.
Before and after Medicare eligibility, be cautious with requests involving your retirement accounts, insurance coverage, Social Security number, taxes, or personal information. Medicare advises beneficiaries to protect their Medicare number and regularly compare their claims with the care they actually received. [3]
What to Freeze, Lock, Monitor, and Update
A strong cybersecurity plan creates several layers of protection, making it harder for one stolen password or convincing message to result in a major loss.
Freeze
Freeze your credit reports with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. A credit freeze is free to place and lift and makes it more difficult for someone to open a new credit account using your identity. [4]
You may also consider requesting an IRS Identity Protection PIN. This six-digit number helps prevent someone else from filing a federal tax return using your Social Security number.[5]
Lock
Secure every device and important account.
Use a passcode, fingerprint, or facial recognition on your phone, tablet, and computer. Create strong, unique passwords and turn on multifactor authentication for financial accounts and email. Never share a one-time verification code with someone who contacts you unexpectedly.
Ask your bank or investment custodian whether additional verification can be required for withdrawals, wire transfers, linked-bank changes, or other high-risk transactions.
Monitor
Turn on alerts and review account activity regularly.
Set up notifications for withdrawals, transfers, new-device logins, password changes, and updates to your contact or banking information.
Regularly review:
Bank, credit card, retirement, and investment accounts
Your credit reports
Your Social Security account and earnings record
Medicare claims and insurance statements
Emails confirming password, address, or direct-deposit changes
Do not ignore unfamiliar transactions simply because the amount is small. Contact the financial institution through a verified number when something does not look right.
Update
Keep passwords, devices, software, and contact information current.
Install updates for your phone, computer, browser, financial applications, and home internet router. Confirm that financial institutions have your current phone number and email address.
You may also consider naming a trusted contact on eligible investment accounts. A trusted contact cannot trade, withdraw money, or make decisions for you simply because they hold that designation. The person may, however, help the financial institution reach someone you trust when it cannot contact you or suspects possible financial exploitation.[5]
Pause, Verify, and Create a Family Plan
One of the strongest cybersecurity habits costs nothing: refuse to make an immediate financial decision in response to an unexpected call, text, email, or computer message.
Be especially cautious when someone:
Creates urgency or tells you to keep the situation secret
Asks you to move money to a “safe” or “protected” account
Requests payment through cryptocurrency, gift cards, cash, gold, or a wire transfer
Asks for remote access to your computer
Requests a password or one-time verification code
Tells you not to speak with your family, advisor, bank, or law enforcement
Families should also create a verification plan before an emergency occurs. This could include a private family password, a rule requiring a callback to a saved number, or a second person who must confirm unusual financial requests.
Avoid using a password based on information that could be found through social media, such as a pet’s name, birthday, or school.
What to Do When You Suspect Fraud
Speed matters once money, personal information, or account access may have been compromised.
Contact the affected bank, credit card company, investment custodian, or financial institution immediately through a verified phone number. Ask whether a transaction can be stopped, an account restricted, or login credentials reset.
Depending on what occurred, you may also need to:
Change affected passwords from a secure device.
Freeze your credit reports.
Contact your phone carrier if your phone number was compromised.
Report identity theft through the FTC’s IdentityTheft.gov.
Report internet-enabled crime to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Contact Medicare, Social Security, or the IRS when those accounts or identification numbers are involved.
The FTC recommends beginning by calling the companies where fraud occurred and asking them to close or freeze affected accounts.[6]
Do not feel embarrassed about reporting what happened. Fraud schemes are intentionally designed to create fear and confusion. Speaking up quickly may help limit further damage.
Protecting Your Wealth Is Part of the Plan
Cybersecurity cannot eliminate every threat, but it can make you a much more difficult target.
Freezing your credit, strengthening account access, monitoring activity, updating your technology, and creating a verification plan can reduce the likelihood that one deceptive message will undo years of careful saving.
Protecting your wealth is not only about how your money is invested. It is also about controlling how it can be accessed, transferred, and changed.
At Straight Path Wealth Management, we help clients bring the different parts of retirement together within one coordinated plan. That includes understanding how accounts are organized, who has access, and what safeguards may be available as life and technology continue to evolve.
Schedule a Free Assessment to learn more about creating a proactive retirement plan designed around your financial life.
Sources
1. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 IC3 Annual Report. (Internet Crime Complaint Center)
2. Federal Trade Commission, Scammers Use AI to Enhance Their Family Emergency Schemes. (Consumer Advice)
3. Medicare.gov, Reporting Medicare Fraud & Abuse. (Medicare)
4. Federal Trade Commission, Freezing? Maybe Freeze Your Credit, Too. (Consumer Advice)
5. FINRA, Protecting Older Investors From Financial Exploitation. (FINRA)
6. Federal Trade Commission, IdentityTheft.gov Recovery Steps. (IdentityTheft.gov)
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