For senior centers, libraries, and assisted living communities

Listen to this page This recording is of an earlier version of this page.

Do you run activities, a front desk, or a resident services office? You are better placed than any website to prevent this. You see people daily. You notice when someone's rattled.

Everything here is free. Print it, copy it, translate it, put your own logo on it, hand it out. You don't need to ask us. Just keep a small credit line to the Trust But Verify Project somewhere reasonable (it's CC BY-NC 4.0). That license is non-commercial. But using it at your facility is fine, even though you're a business. The license stops someone from selling this material itself. It doesn't stop a nursing home or senior center from handing it to residents for free, which is exactly what it's for.

The four things that actually reduce losses

1. Put the fridge sheet in every unit

Not a stack at the desk. In the unit, on the refrigerator. Right where someone standing in their kitchen with a phone can see it.

Print the fridge sheet, large type, one page, 45 languages.

Print and distribute the English version freely. The other 44 languages are AI translations. They're still waiting for a native speaker's review, and they carry a warning band saying so. Please don't put those in units yet. Do you have a bilingual staff member or resident who'd read one? That's exactly who we need. It would unlock that language for every facility, not just yours.

2. Make the front desk a verification stop

The single most valuable thing a facility can offer is a person to check with. Someone who is there right now and doesn't need to be phoned.

Post it plainly:

Got a call that scared you? Bring it to the front desk before you do anything. That's what we're here for. No question is silly.

The reason this works: scammers keep people on the phone so they can't ask anyone. A desk twenty feet away breaks that.

3. Train your staff on the four tells

Anyone at your desk should know to gently intervene when a resident:

• Is on a long call and seems distressed or is being told what to say.
• Asks for a ride to a store to buy several gift cards.
• Asks for help wiring money or is expecting a courier.
• Suddenly needs cash and won't say why, or has been told to keep it quiet.

One sentence, no accusation: "That sounds stressful. Would you like me to sit with you while you call the bank on the number on your card?"

4. Run the talk twice a year

Not once. Twice, and again after any incident in the building. Scam tactics change. Repetition is what makes the three steps automatic instead of remembered.

The 5-minute lobby talk needs no slides and no expertise. An activities coordinator can deliver it cold.

A boundary worth stating plainly: staff should not take control of a resident's finances without proper legal authority. That means power of attorney, guardianship, or the resident's own request to a bank. Your role is to help them reach their own bank and the hotline. Your role is to notice and report suspected exploitation. It is not to manage the money yourselves. Follow your facility's own policy on financial involvement with residents.

Running a session that works

Keep it under 30 minutes. Attention, not content, is the constraint.

Open with a story, not statistics. Ideally a local one. "A resident in this building got a call last month" beats any federal number ever published.

Never make anyone raise their hand about being scammed. Not even anonymously. Not even as an icebreaker. The single most important thing in the room is that nobody feels exposed.

Give the three steps early and repeat them at least four times. People will remember three things. Make sure they're the right three.

Leave twelve minutes for questions. Questions are where the real learning happens. And someone will describe something that happened to them last week.

Have handouts in hand as people leave: not on a table by the door. Hand them over personally.

Say plainly: this happens to everyone. Include yourself. Tell them about a text that almost got you. It's the permission slip that lets a room talk honestly.

What to keep at the front desk

• A stack of wallet cards.
• One laminated fridge sheet at the desk itself.
• The two helplines on a card by the phone:
• 833-372-8311 (National Elder Fraud Hotline)
• 877-908-3360 (AARP Fraud Watch)
• Your local police non-emergency number.
• A note on who to tell internally if a resident reports a loss.

If a resident has lost money

They will be embarrassed, and embarrassment is the reason it goes unreported and happens again.

1. "I'm glad you told me", first, before anything else.
2. Sit with them while they call their bank on a number from their own card.
3. Offer to sit with them while they call 833-372-8311. That hotline exists for exactly this and will walk them through reporting.
4. Ask whether they'd like family told, and respect the answer.
5. Watch for the recovery scam in the following weeks. It is coming, and it targets people who have already lost money once.

Want a talk given?

The talk this project grew out of was given by a volunteer at his parents' community. He has a cybersecurity background. The script, slides, and handouts are all free to use. You don't need a specialist, you need somebody willing to stand up for 25 minutes.

Everything's on the printables page.

What you're actually building

A building where people check with each other is a building scammers do poorly in. Not because anyone became suspicious. Because asking got easy.

The residents who learn this will teach each other. That's the part that outlasts any handout you print. A hallway where "let me ask at the desk first" is just what people do.