Nofziger said that older adults especially need to take scams seriously — all the more so since the emergence of generative AI tools that make traps even more effective. Some scams can be so bedeviling that the victims never find their way out of them, with heartbreaking results. "I've been working with a few families for years where their loved one cannot get pulled out of the scam," she told us. "And they've decided that having that person in their life and [...] having $500 or $1,000 stolen every month from them is okay."