Credit unions step up to protect older members during Elder Abuse Awareness Month
When the fraud-services team at Dupaco Community Credit Union tallied its results for 2025, the figure read like a quiet victory: nearly $7 million in scam losses stopped before the Dubuque, Iowa, cooperative’s 178,000-plus members ever felt the hit.
A decade earlier, when the program launched, that number was just $300,000. The team now works hand in hand with local police, partnering with a Dubuque Police Department investigator on 354 fraud cases in 2025 alone. Jill Gogel, the credit union’s vice president of fraud services, told KCRG-TV9 that the criminals have grown alarmingly skilled, learning to “really convince folks that what they’re doing is right and legitimate.”
That skill is showing up in the national numbers. In 2025, adults age 60 and older filed 201,266 fraud complaints with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center and reported more than $7.7 billion in losses, the heaviest toll of any age group. Investment scams, many built on cryptocurrency, drained the most money, followed by tech-support and romance fraud. With June recognized as Elder Abuse Awareness Month, credit unions across the country are using the moment to sharpen their defenses and put practical resources in members’ hands.
A free toolkit built for credit unions of any size
At the center of this year’s effort is a new Elder Exploitation Prevention Toolkit, developed by the American Association of Credit Union Leagues and underwritten cooperatively by the state credit union leagues, so the materials reach credit unions free of charge. The aim, said Brad Miller, president of the American Association of Credit Union Leagues, is to make it easy for institutions of any size “to educate members, equip staff, and inform their community.” Combating financial abuse of older adults, he noted, ranks among credit unions’ highest priorities.
The toolkit is the second of five member-focused resources planned for 2026, and it is fully customizable. Inside, credit unions find member-facing educational content, social media and outreach materials, staff guides, conversation starters, and a financial-exploitation checklist for frontline teams. Branch staff can put the materials to work during June or at any point the outreach calendar calls for it. Credit unions can request the complimentary resources through their state league.
Putting prevention to work at the branch
State leagues are turning the awareness push into concrete protections. The Illinois Credit Union League is rallying its members around a change to the Illinois Credit Union Act that took effect January 1, 2026, allowing credit union employees to contact the trusted advisors or family members listed on a member’s account when they suspect financial exploitation. That authority gives staff a faster, safer way to step in before money leaves the building, closing a gap that once forced employees to watch suspicious transfers go through.
Individual credit unions are deepening member education as well. Verve, a Credit Union, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, published a plain-language guide to the six schemes most often aimed at older adults: overpayment correction scams, family-emergency or grandparent scams, government impersonation, tech-support fraud, romance scams, and charity or lottery cons. The credit union also warned members that fraudsters have impersonated its own fraud team, and it stressed that no legitimate institution will ever ask for login credentials or one-time verification codes.
How members can protect themselves
Mid Carolina Credit Union offers a clear checklist for families. Warning signs include unexplained withdrawals, suddenly unpaid bills, secrecy around money, and a new person taking control of someone’s finances. The credit union encourages members to name one or two trusted contacts before a crisis arises, to switch on real-time transaction alerts and card controls in online and mobile banking, and to report suspected exploitation to their credit union first, then to law enforcement or Adult Protective Services. Anyone who needs help can also call the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11, which connects callers with case managers who walk them through reporting.
The throughline across every program is the same. Credit unions sit close enough to members’ daily finances to notice trouble early, and a single attentive teller can be the difference between a flagged transfer and a drained account. Elder Abuse Awareness Month is a prompt, not a finish line. Members can act today by designating a trusted contact, turning on account alerts, and asking their credit union which protections and educational materials it offers. The cost of waiting, as last year’s $7.7 billion in losses shows, keeps climbing.
