San Ramon Students Help Protect Seniors Against Scams

SAN RAMON, CA — Three out of every four older adults say they've experienced a fraud attempt in the last two years, according to research from the University of Michigan. Three in 10 say they've fallen victim to the scam, according to the same study.

San Ramon student Adya Gupta, the founder of nonprofit Impactt Kids, wanted to help educate local seniors on how to avoid a similar fate. She partnered with organizations like the Family Caregiver Alliance and Choice in Aging to create a volunteer-driven scam education program for the elderly and their caregivers.

Adya was inspired by her grandmother, who receives frequent scam calls. “I saw firsthand how confusing and stressful these calls could be for my grandmother,” she told Patch. “She would often question whether they were real, and I realized that many other seniors likely face the same challenges.”

She ran a few sessions at a local senior living center, where she covered a number of topics, including how to recognize scam calls and phishing emails; identifying fraudulent IRS, Medicare, and lottery scams; best practices for safeguarding personal and financial information; and steps to take if someone falls victim to fraud.

Several seniors reported successfully avoiding scams as a result of the training, and some said that they passed along the information to their friends. The senior living center asked Adya to give monthly presentations on the topic.

She and her Impactt Kids team, which includes Saanvi Deshmukh, Mahika Deshmukh, and Amaira Gupta, are hoping to expand the initiative. They are considering ways to integrate technology like AI-powered scam detection tools, and a hotline for scoping out suspicious calls.

For more information on this and the other work of Impactt Kids, visit impacttkids.org.

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