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Anthony, an older man from California, told ABC7 Los Angeles last October that he had been scammed out of $25,000 by means of a voice generated by artificial intelligence. Anthony, who declined to give his last name, got a call from his son, as he believed, who told him that he’d gotten into a car accident and hit a pregnant woman who was hospitalized. Soon after Anthony hung up, another person called claiming to be his son’s lawyer. This caller said that $9,200 was needed immediately for bail or else Anthony’s son would be jailed for a month and a half.

AI has brought to a boil a problem that has been simmering for several decades. Older adults report financial exploitation to be the most frequent form of abuse they experience, with estimated annual losses as high as $28 billion in the U.S. alone. As the fastest-growing and wealthiest segment of the population, currently controlling 65 percent of the U.S.’s total wealth and $13 trillion in home equity wealth, older adults are increasingly likely to be targeted by scammers. Their vulnerability to scams stems from the many and diverse challenges of aging. These include declines in cognition, alterations in life circumstances (such as the death of a spouse), and difficulty keeping up with the constantly changing technological landscape.

Scammers use sophisticated tactics that prey on the vulnerabilities of older adults, inciting panic and inducing isolation so that individuals make decisions alone and quickly. Anthony, for instance, rushed to the bank and withdrew the money demanded and gave it to someone who came to his home. Then he received another phone call from a person posturing as a second lawyer. The accident victim had passed away, the caller said, which meant Anthony’s son’s predicament had worsened, and the amount needed for bail had gone up—$15,800 was now required. Shaken, Anthony paid again. It was only after this second payment that his daughter suggested to him that he might have been scammed.

No matter the amount of money lost, being scammed can damage mental and physical health, erode self-confidence, and diminish one’s quality of life. It can even contribute to premature death, as found by Jason Burnett of the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and colleagues. Fortunately, however, many people are able to detect a scam and walk away. How do they do that, and can their methods be used by others?

We decided to find answers to these questions. In 2016, we began conducting town hall meetings, self-report surveys, focus group discussions and in-depth individual interviews with nearly 300 residents of a large retirement community in Florida about their experiences with financial exploitation. Most everyone we talked to said that they had moved to the retirement community because they believed that they would not have to worry about crime—they would be living behind security gates, and all their neighbors would be older people.

In fact, however, they were being targeted by scammers more often since they had moved to the retirement community, which provided a concentration of wealthy and vulnerable adults. Almost immediately after moving into their new homes, many received phone calls, e-mails, and knocks on the door offering fraudulent services for home and auto repair, prizes and sweepstakes, and financial planning. They quickly had to learn to be vigilant.

Their main strategies to avoid being scammed: maintaining a skeptical mindset and keeping well informed about fraud and the diverse tactics used by scammers, e

specially during stressful times when they were consumed with other factors, such as a serious illness. “I keep up to date about fraud or scams,” Richard, then age 64, told us in an interview during our research. “I read all articles on scams. You really have to educate yourself.” (We changed the names of those we interviewed for privacy.) Protection against scams comes from continual education that helps older people develop and sustain their skepticism while also increasing their confidence in their ability to make smart, informed decisions.

Scams Old And New

AI has introduced novel ways for fraudsters to trick older adults through replicated or altered voices, videos, photographs and documents. Recent and novel scams that affect older adults include calls, texts, or e-mails that come as urgent messages from someone pretending to be a government official or law enforcement officer, requiring payment for what they claim is missed jury duty, unpaid highway tolls, or parking and traffic tickets. Failure to send money immediately, individuals are told, will result in their arrest or deportation.

At the same time, some long-standing scams continue to occur—but more frequently and with greater sophistication, making them more difficult to avoid. Lottery and sweepstakes scams remain common. Offenders, typically impersonating well-known celebrities or organizations, contact a person out of the blue and tell them that they have won a prize. To claim winnings, the scammers stress, individuals must send the money right away—sometimes thousands of dollars—to cover “taxes,” “shipping,” or “processing fees.” Even though no prize will ever arrive, scammers continue to contact their victims to convince them that more money must be sent.

Many variations on this theme exist. For example, the FBI first began receiving reports of the “grandparent scam” in 2008. This kind of fraud, resembling that experienced by Anthony, exploits a person’s emotions, inciting fear and anxiety, by impersonating a grandchild or other family member in distress. Offenders often demand that money be provided quickly and through gift cards or wire transfers, which don’t require identification to collect. Sometimes scammers have even sent couriers to their targets’ homes to collect money.

These scams have been around for decades, but persist as significant threats to older adults. They regularly top lists provided by law enforcement and advocacy groups of the most common scams targeting older adults. (The lists also often include government impersonation, tech suppor,t and financial services scams.) Not least, older adults are also increasingly targeted for scams involving medical procedures, insurance, auto and home repair, and sales.

Ralph, a highly decorated war veteran from Florida, and his wife received a phone call selling unlimited cruise vacations for one year from a seemingly reputable company. After paying $2,000 from their limited fixed income and savings, the couple never received confirmation of their purchase or information about how to redeem their vacations. Months passed, and Ralph, then age 90, sought help from the police. Eventually, a law enforcement official met with Ralph to tell him the case had to be closed without a resolution. As tears ran down his face, Ralph told the official, “It’s not about the money. I just feel so stupid.” This sense of helplessness, embarrassment, and utter misery is what so many scam victims report feeling.

Older adults can also be scammed by romantic partners, friends or family members. Tragically, nearly 50 percent of scams involve the people who are closest to older adults; these cases seldom get reported to law enforcement. Another common tactic: offenders scan obituary columns in local newspapers to befriend a widow or widower at a time when they are vulnerable. John, then age 67, told us that someone from local funeral homes “reminds women to never put an obituary [in the newspaper] because you are a target, and the minute that that goes in there, some crook is reading that to see if they can make a connection with you—‘Oh, your late husband was an Air Force pilot; I was a pilot, too’—and they use that to eventually get at their money.”

Why do people fall for these types of scams? The people with whom we talked reported that at the time of victimization—and regardless of whether the scam was routine or new—their judgement became so clouded that they lost their ability to be skeptical. They made spur-of-the moment decisions that were uncharacteristic of those they would have made in preceding months or years. Certain factors compound this problem.

Research suggests that older adults struggle more to anticipate financial losses, have higher levels of trust for strangers, and have a lower ability to detect deceptions compared with younger adults. These differences, both cognitive and psychological, may reflect age-related changes to the brain. Older adults also face an increasing frequency of setbacks to their physical and emotional health, which can reduce their self-confidence and hinder their skepticism. “I was in the hospital, depressed, and couldn’t hear that well anymore. When a [financial] planner called, I just wasn’t in the right place,” Anne, then age 78, said to us. “I should have known better. I did know better, but … I was just so depressed.” Peter Lichtenberg, a researcher at Wayne State University, and colleagues reported in 2016 that symptoms of depression were associated with an increased risk of fraud among older adults.

Social isolation also constitutes a significant factor. The loss of loved ones that comes with aging can shrink social networks and add to people’s vulnerability. “I have nobody. I don’t have anybody,” Harold, then age 75, told us. “My brother passed away. My sister is lingering in a nursing home…, and that’s it…. Losing support systems is terrifying, especially for us older folks.” In 2018, Marti DeLiemaof the University of Minnesota observed that the lack of a trustworthy network of friends or family best distinguished the older adults who had been defrauded from those who had not.

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Top proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services is recommending that Tesla investors vote against a pay plan for CEO Elon Musk that would grant him nearly $1 trillion more in stock.

The “mega performance equity award” to Musk, designed to retain the CEO long-term, “has an astronomical grant value conditioned upon far-reaching performance targets that, if achieved, would create enormous value for shareholders,” ISS wrote on Friday.

Tesla’s 2025 annual shareholder meeting and proxy vote is scheduled for Nov. 5. The company is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Wednesday.

ISS said that while some shareholders may support the pay plan, “there are unmitigated concerns surrounding the special award’s magnitude and design.”

Musk’s plan, if approved, would be the largest ever awarded to a public company CEO. It could net Musk up to an additional 12% stake in Tesla, should the company hit a market cap of $8.5 trillion and achieve other goals.

Tesla disagreed with the ISS recommendations.

In a post on X, which is owned by Musk, the automaker accused ISS of missing “fundamental points of investing and governance,” and complained that the advisors had previously “recommended against compensation that shareholders have voted on twice before (and that Elon has already earned), as well as the 2025 CEO Performance Award (where Elon receives nothing unless shareholders win big).”

The company urged shareholders to vote with the board’s recommendations on all proposals on the 2025 proxy.

ISS previously advised investors to reject a “ratification” of Musk’s 2018 CEO pay package, which was worth an estimated $56 billion at the time.

The Delaware Court of Chancery ruled early last year that the 2018 pay plan had been improperly granted by the Tesla board and must be rescinded. The ruling said Tesla hid crucial details from shareholders that they were entitled to before voting, and that Musk had controlled the board.

Musk has appealed that court’s decision to the Delaware State Supreme Court, with opening arguments in the appeal heard by a panel of judges this week.

Representatives for ISS declined to comment beyond the report.

ISS, along with Glass Lewis and smaller peers, can influence how shareholders decide to cast their votes at annual elections. Musk accused ISS and Glass Lewis in 2023 of effectively controlling the stock market because of their influence with passive or index funds in some matters. He also baselessly compared ISS to a terrorist organization.

Musk will be able to vote his own shares in the vote concerning his future pay. He holds at least 13.5% of Tesla’s voting power, according to the most recent available disclosures on his stake. Those holdings alone could be enough to secure approval for the nearly $1 trillion pay package.

In September, Musk added to his ownership of Tesla stock buying another $1 billion worth of shares.

Among other ISS recommendations, the firm also suggested that shareholders should vote against giving Tesla’s board authorization to invest in xAI, the AI company that Musk started in March 2023 but only disclosed publicly in July that year. Tesla has sold tens of millions of dollars worth of its Megapack battery energy storage systems to xAI.

ISS also recommended against voting to reinstate Tesla board member Ira Ehrenpreis, a longstanding and close friend of Musk.

In May, Tesla changed its corporate bylaws to limit shareholders’ ability to sue for a breach of fiduciary duties so that only a shareholder that owns at least 3% of the company’s stock can bring what’s called a “derivative” action. Ehrenpreis presided over Tesla’s governance committee at the time that change was made without a shareholder vote.

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The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Despite the concerns career prosecutors raised about the case, Mr. Trump’s inexperienced handpicked choice to lead the prosecutors’ office, Lindsey Halligan, secured an indictment against Ms. James last week, accusing her of mortgage fraud. The indictment said Ms. James had falsely claimed in loan documents that she would use a home she had purchased in Norfolk, Va., as a secondary residence, but instead had used it as a rental property, allowing her to receive favorable terms that saved her close to $19,000.

The firings of Ms. Yusi and Ms. Bird came less than a month after Ms. Halligan’s predecessor, Erik S. Siebert, resigned under pressure from Mr. Trump. Mr. Siebert, who had been chosen by the president to run the office, had taken a stand against his desire to seek charges against another of his adversaries: James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director.

In the end, Ms. Halligan did Mr. Trump’s bidding in that case, too, personally presenting a case to a grand jury last month and securing an indictment against Mr. Comey that accused him of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.

The U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia, which has traditionally handled some of the country’s most significant terrorism and national security cases, has been battered by dismissals and resignations, stemming from the cases against Ms. James and Mr. Comey. Ms. James and Mr. Comey have both denied the charges against them.

Maya Song, the office’s former first assistant U.S. attorney, was fired in the wake of Mr. Comey’s indictment, as was her replacement, Maggie Cleary, a well-known conservative lawyer in Virginia.

Mr. Comey’s son-in-law, Troy Edwards Jr., who handled national security cases, resigned in protest shortly after the indictment was returned. And Mr. Edwards’s boss, Michael P. Ben’Ary, was dismissed after a pro-Trump social media influencer wrongly accused him in an online post of having questioned the indictment of Mr. Comey.

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President Trump’s handpicked acting U.S. attorney, Lindsey Halligan, secured an indictment against the New York attorney general last week after other prosecutors resisted seeking charges. Credit…Evan Vucci/Associated Press

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The West Coast of North America is a geologically tumultuous zone where tectonic plates collide, subducting under and scraping past one another. Over the eons, this activity has regularly caused major earthquakes. New research reveals that some of these seismic events may have happened in sync along the coast’s two major faults: the San Andreas Fault and the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

A team of researchers analyzed a trove of seafloor sediment from the region where the faults meet off the coast of northern California. The researchers’ findings, published recently in Geosphere, reveal that the fault systems have produced several synchronized earthquakes over the past 3,000 years.

Chris Goldfinger, an Oregon State University marine geologist and lead author of the new paper, compares the process to tuning an analog radio, in which the device’s oscillators are synced up to convert incoming signals. “When you tune an old radio, you’re essentially causing one oscillator to vibrate at the same frequency as the other one,” he says. “When these faults synchronize, one fault could tune up the other and cause earthquakes in pairs.”

The Cascadia Subduction Zone, where the Juan de Fuca and Gorda plates slide underneath the North American Plate, stretches all the way from Vancouver Island to northern California to meet the San Andreas Fault. That fault extends south for 750 miles along a boundary where the North American and Pacific plates slide past each other.

Since 1999, Goldfinger and his team have been drilling into the seafloor at this tectonic crossroads, known as the Mendocino Triple Junction, to pull up cores that show a cross-section of the sediments that have built up there. For the new study, the researchers examined more than 130 sediment cores that record roughly 3,000 years of geological history. Many of the cores contained layered sediments known as turbidites, which are created by marine landslides that move large amounts of material around the ocean floor. Many of these landslides are caused by earthquakes, making turbidite layers a useful proxy for pinpointing past seismic events.

Most turbidites have coarser sediment layers at the bottom and finer silt-like sediment at the top, similar to what you get when you swirl a bucket of sand at the beach. But the turbidites in samples from the Mendocino Triple Junction “seem to be upside down with all the sand at the top,” Goldfinger says. “And as far as we know, gravity hasn’t changed.”

As they investigated the puzzling features, Goldfinger realized the cores contained two turbidites stacked on top of each other. This provides evidence of two separate earthquake events happening in quick succession—as the first earthquake was settling a layer of silt over the ocean floor, a second shock sent another avalanche of sand over top.

Some of the layered turbidites are so closely spaced that these events could have happened anywhere from within minutes to decades of each other. Analysis of the ages of shells in the sediments suggest there were at least eight large earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault over the past 3,000 years that occurred within decades of significant quakes along the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Meng Wei, a marine geologist and geophysicist at the University of Rhode Island, says the idea that fault systems near each other could synchronize has been floating around for years and has been seen at smaller fault boundaries over short periods. But he says the new paper is impressive for illustrating that the phenomenon is possible with larger fault systems over thousands of years.

Though the Cascadia and San Andreas systems have apparently been linked for millennia, there seems to be some variability when it comes to the timing between successive quakes. Wei, who was not involved in the new study, says it is possible that the two faults could produce shaking within a few years of each other at some point in the future, but more research is needed to gauge how one quake triggers another. “Even if these two faults are synchro, the time interval between earthquakes can still be decades,” he adds.

The two systems are also not in perfect sync. The team discovered that some temblors, including the 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco, were one-off events that were caused exclusively by movements along the northern San Andreas Fault.

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