PhD Proposal: Uncovering the Tactics Scammers Use to Deceive Older Adults

Every year, online scams cause billions in losses, with adults over 65 disproportionately affected. Generative AI is making these scams faster and harder to detect, yet both educational initiatives and technical defenses for older adults remain insufficient. Many cybersecurity tools assume high digital literacy and constant vigilance, which do not align with the abilities or preferences many seniors have.
In this talk, I will present how my research uncovers the diverse tactics scammers employ across three major online attack types that target older adults. The attacks I study vary in scale (e.g., SMS phishing), as well as in their degree of personalization (e.g., romance scams). My work identifies patterns that current defenses overlook and informs the design of evidence-based sociotechnical interventions to better protect older adults from emerging forms of online fraud.