I don't think severely diminished critical thinking ability is too far off the mark. Perhaps it sounds harsh, but the reality is that many elderly people do have diminshed mental capacities. It's how life works. It does not even need a citation because we all know it. I have never heard of a scam that was highly successful of bilking 30-somethings for millions (other than our consumer culture, but that's a different story).
Also, you can watch hundreds of vidoes on Youtube and hear exactly the types of scripts that are used in these scams once a live person is on the line. To anyone running at average mental capacity these are clearly scams, regardless of how computer-literate you are. Also, in TFA, as well as in reality, most scams are against the elderly: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/results-of-elder-fraud-swee...
There's a reason for this. It is because all of our mental faculties decrease as we age. That diminished capacity may cause people to be more trusting, but the root cause is diminished capacity. And it is neither oversimplying or insulting, it is real information that can help direct actual solutions.
Also, you can watch hundreds of vidoes on Youtube and hear exactly the types of scripts that are used in these scams once a live person is on the line. To anyone running at average mental capacity these are clearly scams, regardless of how computer-literate you are. Also, in TFA, as well as in reality, most scams are against the elderly: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/results-of-elder-fraud-swee...
There's a reason for this. It is because all of our mental faculties decrease as we age. That diminished capacity may cause people to be more trusting, but the root cause is diminished capacity. And it is neither oversimplying or insulting, it is real information that can help direct actual solutions.
Here's an abstract for Age-Associated Financial Vulnerability: https://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/2456133/age-associat...
The very structure of the brain changes as we age, reducing our bullshit detection (see mid-way through the article): https://whyy.org/articles/age-of-fraud-are-seniors-more-vuln...