42. How Online Misinformation Exploits Elderly Victims in San Francisco

42. How Online Misinformation Exploits Elderly Victims in San Francisco

In San Francisco, 75-year-old Linda receives an email appearing to be from her bank, asking her to update her account details. Unaware of phishing tactics, she complies, leading to significant financial loss.

Individual outcomes

Linda faces financial hardship and loss of trust in digital transactions.

Societal outcomes

The situation triggers conflicts with family members or roommates who may have been relying on shared funding for living costs. On a larger scale, such incidents erode public confidence in online banking and increase financial crimes. They can also affect the attitude towards any further communication from that bank, or extend such distrust to other service providers.

Competences involved in this scenario:

Social systems affected by this scenario:

D4. Detection of digital deception

M7. Evaluation of multiple sources

Banking Institutions
Cybersecurity Agencies
Law Enforcement