Initiative 3
Fraud Prevention Curricula for Older Americans
Structured teaching modules for AARP's Fraud Fighter Network and community organizations serving older adults.
Status
- Curriculum module: account takeover and synthetic identity misusePublished 2026-06-30
- Curriculum module: Medicare and Medicaid billing fraudPublished 2026-06-30
- Facilitator guidesPublished 2026-06-30
- Participant handoutsPublished 2026-06-30
The problem #
Detection cannot reach an authorized transfer
Where a victim is deceived into authorizing a transfer herself, through impersonation of a family member, a government official, or a financial institution, the transaction is not anomalous from the institution's perspective. It is an authorized instruction from a verified account holder. Detection is at its weakest precisely where the deception is most complete, and recovery after an authorized transfer is frequently impossible. The only reliable point of intervention is the intended recipient recognizing the fraud scheme before responding.
Generic awareness material is true but not actionable
General fraud awareness material tends toward advice that is true but not actionable, such as be suspicious of unexpected calls, because its authors are not working from operational characterizations of specific fraud schemes. It also ages badly: guidance written before AI generated voice cloning taught recognition cues that current fraud schemes are engineered to satisfy.
Reach bounded by one person's calendar fails at scale
Fraud schemes reach older Americans in every state through telephone networks, email, and social platforms that respect no state boundary; a single operation, frequently located outside the United States, contacts victims across all fifty states simultaneously. Material that depends on its author reaches whoever the author can personally address. A program whose reach is limited to its author's personal availability is inherently bounded, and cannot answer a threat operating at that scale.
How the curricula are built #
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Convert each detection pattern into a recognition cue
For every fraud pattern the detection work in Initiatives 1 and 2 is built to catch, produce a corresponding description of what that scheme looks and sounds like to the person receiving it: what is asked for, what pressure is applied, and what a legitimate request would never include.
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Build reusable modules, not one off talks
Each module covers one scheme family, with a fixed structure: how the scheme works, the specific signals to watch for, the single action to take, and where to report. Two module families are covered initially: account takeover and synthetic identity misuse of a participant's own credit, and Medicare and Medicaid billing fraud in which a beneficiary's number is used without their knowledge.
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Deliver through an established national channel
The curricula are delivered through AARP's Fraud Fighter Network, which provides existing reach into the target population. Delivery does not depend on building an audience first.
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Extend from online only to in person delivery
In person sessions reach older adults who are less active online, a group that is both harder to reach and, for that reason, more exposed.
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Update the material as the schemes change
Because the curricula are derived from ongoing detection work, new fraud patterns identified in that work feed directly into revised modules, rather than the material aging into inaccuracy.
What it produces #
What it draws on
Two sources: the operational characterization of each fraud scheme developed through the detection work in Initiatives 1 and 2, how a scheme is constructed, what it produces, and what traces it leaves, and continuous, hands on delivery of fraud prevention education through AARP's Fraud Fighter Network since May 2024.
What each module contains
A fixed structure repeated across every scheme family: how the scheme works, the specific signals to watch for, the single action to take, and where to report, plus a facilitator guide and one page, plain language participant handouts with reporting information.
Who uses it #
Volunteers delivering fraud prevention education through AARP's Fraud Fighter Network and comparable community organizations serving older adults. Each module's fixed structure means delivery does not depend on the deliverer's technical background.
- AARP's Fraud Fighter Network volunteers
- Community organizations serving older adults
Artifacts #
Curriculum module: account takeover and synthetic identity
Curriculum module: Medicare and Medicaid billing fraud
Participant handout, Module 01: account takeover and synthetic identity
Participant handout, Module 02: Medicare and Medicaid billing fraud
Facilitator guide, Module 01: account takeover and synthetic identity
Facilitator guide, Module 02: Medicare and Medicaid billing fraud
All artifacts on this page are Tier 1, open to anyone, without registration.