An 82-year-old Concord woman nearly lost her retirement savings after asking Siri to call American Express.
The woman, identified only as Virginia, wrote to Fox News tech columnist Kurt Knutsson that Siri connected her to a bogus number instead of American Express. She was transferred to someone claiming to be a Bank of America security expert, who told her she was owed a $1,000 credit. Zeros were then added, turning the figure into $100,000, and the caller said she needed to go to Bank of America and return the money.
Virginia caught on.
"I am 82 years old and could have lost my entire retirement in one fell swoop," she wrote.
She hung up and froze her Bank of America account. No money was lost. Knutsson's full column details how the two-part scheme works and how to report incorrect listings in Apple Maps.
No Concord Police Department statement or incident report related to this scam attempt appears in public records.
Older adults report steeper losses
The scam Virginia encountered fits a national pattern. Business impersonators caused $1 billion in losses in 2025, up from $866 million in 2024, with bank impersonation driving the largest share, according to Federal Trade Commission data reported by CNBC. Total fraud losses reported to the FTC in 2025 reached $15.9 billion, a record.
Americans 60 and older reported $7.7 billion lost to internet fraud in 2025, a 60 percent increase from 2024, according to FBI and FTC data reported by AARP. Patty Hsue, chief of staff for the FTC's Division of Marketing Practices, told CNBC in June that the trend toward large losses is driven by a sharp increase in victims losing at least $100,000. That pattern occurs more often among people 60 or older.
Bank of America warns it will never ask customers to transfer money because fraud was detected on an account.
How to protect yourself
For banks and credit card companies, the safest call-back number is the one printed on the back of the physical card or listed inside the institution's official app. Avoid numbers supplied by search results, sponsored ads, or voice assistants.
The Better Business Bureau has warned that fake customer-service numbers can surface through voice searches on Siri and other assistants. It remains unclear how the bogus number appeared in Virginia's Siri results. Fox News reported that Apple did not respond to a request for comment before its deadline.
Concord and Lexington residents who suspect elder financial exploitation can call the Massachusetts Attorney General's Elder Hotline at (888) 243-5337, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Elder abuse reports can also be filed around the clock at (800) 922-2275.
