Financial Scams Targeting Older Adults on the Rise
We frequently see news accounts of older adults who have experienced some type of fraud, often losing their life savings, leading to devastating financial and psychological impacts on their well-being. You may have wanted to help, but were not sure how.
The free National Elder Fraud Hotline, supported by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime, is a great place to start. The Hotline is staffed by professionals who have experience working with older adults and will help victims of fraud through the reporting process at the federal, state and local levels.
The staff is:
- continuously updated on the latest scams and can consult with older adults about whether some communication they have received (e.g., text, email, mail) is really a scam.
- trained to make referrals and warm hand-offs for resources and services in the older adult’s local area.
- able to assist older adults in placing a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a report that has the potential to freeze funds (although freezing funds cannot be guaranteed).
In commemoration of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on June 15, the DOJ Elder Justice Initiative encourages you to alert older adults in your community, and those who love them, to call the National Elder Fraud Hotline about any elder fraud issues.
833-372-8311 I Monday–Friday, 6 am-2 pm Alaska time
English/Español/Other languages available
Read about how Alaska is Honoring World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in 2025.
Imposter Scams
An imposter scammer may call, text or email to convince you they are someone of authority. They may even use caller ID to make it look like they are calling from an official government or business number. To commit identity theft, they try to get you to share personal information or send money or a gift card.
Northrim Bank will never contact you and ask you for personal information or money. If you receive a call, text or email requesting that, we recommend you hang up and phone our call center at (907) 562-0062 to find out if a member of our team is trying to reach you.
You can find more information on imposter scams at usa.gov
Check Fraud Alert
Northrim has recently been made aware of a significant increase in check fraud, which appears to be connected with mail theft in California. Customers should be very cautious when sending checks in the mail to unsecure locations where items could be easily stolen. Special consideration should be used when sending checks to California.
We recommend customers take these steps to help protect themselves:
- Send checks to locked boxes or post office boxes whenever possible.
- Maintain adequate physical security of checks and deposit tickets.
- Reconcile accounts promptly and regularly. Quick fraud detection increases the likelihood of recovery.
- Utilize ACH services to send money instead of writing checks.
We also recommend that customers use Fraud Prevention Services such as Account Reconciliation and Positive Pay to help prevent check fraud. Please reach out to your banker if you have any questions or would like more information about our Fraud Prevention Services.
Mortgage Postcard Scam
We have been made aware of a postcard scam asking customers to call a number about a time-sensitive matter about their mortgage. This postcard did not come from Northrim Bank, we would never send customers a postcard requesting customers call us regarding their mortgage. In some instances, there is a small disclaimer in the bottom right corner indicating the information was provided by Mortgage Services Group, LLC or LeadPros and the sender is “not affiliated with, sponsored by, and loan information not provided by Northrim Bank.”
At Northrim, we are committed to protecting our customers’ personal information. We do not sell or distribute customers’ information to non-affiliated third parties. However, some information about mortgages, regardless of which lender a consumer works with, is public record. That is how these companies may have obtained Northrim customers' contact information.
We advise our customers NOT call the number listed. The best thing to do is discard the postcard however you would any other junk mail you receive.