How seniors are unknowingly helping scammers on social media

Marisha Goldhamer, investigations expert at AFP News Agency, says the new scam uses clips of seniors pleading for views and purchases of their handmade products

Fraudsters are using seniors as tools in online scams without their knowledge.

The scams take videos posted by elderly people, and through deceptive editing, make it appear as though the seniors are promoting or selling a product they have no connection to.

AFP’s Marisha Goldhamer spoke to CTV News Channel on Monday for their “Deception Decoded” segment to help break down the scam. Her team has been analyzing these deceptive videos for months, and managed to track down one of the senior citizens used.

• READ MORE: ‘Anyone could fall victim to these traps’: Survey shows Canadians are ‘fed up’ dealing with scams on a daily basis

“Even if you think, ‘Oh I would never purchase a product like that,’ it’s really important not to even engage with the videos,” Goldhamer said. “They’re emotionally manipulative, they ask us to share them, but we really shouldn’t.”

Goldhamer, who heads AFP’s North American digital investigation division, was able to track down Barbara Kingsley. Goldhamer said that Kingsley was active on social media, but used it for political satire, not to sell things.

However, clips of Kingsley were used by other accounts to promote their own products, to which Kingsley had no connection nor did she even know it was happening, Goldhamer explained.

“I didn’t realize that they were using (clips of me) to sell slippers,” Kingsley told Goldhamer’s team. “I’m not here to make money.”

• READ MORE: Hidden crime exposed: Authorities warn of digital fraud surge

The products that Kingsley’s clips are being used to advertise are real. However, the marketplaces that the scam videos link to often have much higher prices than competitors. Goldhamer told CTV News Channel that the scammers are hoping to act as a middleman, selling products above market value and pocketing the difference.

But even for users who are savvy enough to catch the scam before paying the inflated price the items, Goldhamer says that just looking at or engaging with the scammer posts can help bad actors.

“Even just engaging with the videos can help these people make money on social media at times,” she said. “There is a resale market for accounts that have large followings and look authentic.”

• READ MORE: Three expert tips to avoid getting scammed

Goldhamer said that it is usually “very difficult” to hone in on the people behind these scams, as they use technology to keep their identity hidden. Most social media platforms have policies against scam content and use human or AI moderators to flag, suspend, or ban accounts that violate their terms of service.

But those moderators aren’t always perfect. Kingsley’s original account — not the ones using her likeness to sell things — was flagged by TikTok as a fake video, and she was temporarily locked out, Goldhamer said.