05/16/2026
Fraud, Elder Abuse & Financial Scams: What We Are Actually Seeing
Fraud today does not look like fraud. It is structured, coordinated, and deliberately designed to appear legitimate. The people getting caught in these situations are not careless. They are not unsophisticated. Many are financially savvy, experienced, and fully capable of managing their own affairs.
And yet, we are seeing this with increasing frequency in our practice at Beress & Zalkind PLLC.
What is happening in these cases is not a random scam. It is an engineered process. The individual is contacted, often through what appears to be a legitimate channel, and is guided step by step through what is presented as a protective or corrective action. The communication feels real. The instructions make sense. There is just enough urgency to move things forward, but not enough to raise immediate alarm. By the time the transaction is completed, the funds are no longer recoverable.
In many situations, clients believe they are protecting themselves. They are told to move funds, sometimes even between accounts they believe they own or control. Everything about the interaction is designed to create confidence. That is why it works.
The assumption is often that this only happens to people who are not paying attention. That assumption is wrong. These schemes are effective because they control the process. They create urgency, mimic legitimate financial procedures, and remove the opportunity to pause and verify. We have had clients say, after the fact, that something felt off, but not enough to justify stopping what appeared to be a necessary action.
We see this even more frequently with elderly clients, not because they lack sophistication, but because of the circumstances in which these decisions are made. They are often alone when the call comes in. They do not want to disturb their children or involve others unnecessarily. They are trying to handle a situation responsibly and efficiently. That combination of urgency, isolation, and a desire to resolve the issue is exactly what these schemes rely on.
The issue is not a lack of knowledge. It is the absence of a second review. The same transaction, with the same facts, typically does not happen if there is a pause and a quick conversation with someone who understands the broader financial and legal structure.
This is why our position is direct. Before any transfer of funds, there needs to be verification. It does not matter whether the request appears legitimate, whether the funds are being moved between accounts in your own name, or whether the instructions seem to come from a trusted institution. Those factors are no longer reliable indicators of safety.
What matters is that no one is acting alone when money is moving.
We advise our clients to treat this as a standing rule. If a transaction involves urgency, complexity, or instruction from an external source, it requires a second set of eyes. That review can take minutes, but it changes the outcome entirely.
At Beress & Zalkind PLLC, we would always prefer to have a brief conversation before a transfer is made than to try to address the consequences after the fact. Once funds are gone, recovery is uncertain and often not possible. The cost of verifying is minimal. The cost of not verifying can be substantial.
If something feels urgent, structured, and requires immediate movement of money, that is not the moment to act. That is the moment to pause and confirm.
Contact Beress & Zalkind PLLC before making any financial transfers. A short conversation can prevent a permanent loss.
