(WENY) -- Scammers are always out to get your money, posing as a neighbor, family member, friend, or sometimes a celebrity in hopes of getting your money into their pocket. Older adults oftentimes are looking for companionship for one reason or another, which makes them more vulnerable than others to fall for a scam.

"A lot of times what happens is the scammer will ask for help and the [scammer] and will advise the person to go to the store to buy gift cards to pay them to provide them money. Scammers will often tell people, 'Oh, if you can send me a $500 iTunes gift card, that would really help me out.' Or, 'Could you go get $10,000 worth in gift cards?' There are different ways that the scammers go about it," said Sheila Brewer-Montero, the Fraud/Scam Prevention Coordinator at Lifespan of Greater Rochester Inc.

Brewer-Montero said scammers will often ask for one of four different types of payments, which are considered red flags. Besides asking for gift cards, scammers could also ask you to wire them money.

"Some scammers ask their victims to mail cash in the mail or ask if they can pick the cash up at their home. The fourth way is cryptocurrency or bitcoin. All of these methods are very difficult to trace and that's why scammers get away with a lot of their scamming," said Brewer-Montero.

Brewer-Montero said people shouldn't assume who they think they're talking to online. She said if your 'friend' sends a friend request it could be a scammer making a fake profile. Scammers will also take advantage of the time of year, for instance on Valentine's Day Brewer-Montero said there's an uptick in what they call 'romance scams.'

"A lot of times people will befriend people on Facebook and they will start messaging with them using Facebook Messenger very shortly [afterward.] As they build a relationship with a person, they will move that person to a different messaging platform, such as Google Chat or WhatsApp. The reason the scammer does that is because those apps are less monitored than Facebook. We tell people people...romance scammers start slow and they continue the relationship over a period of time. At first, they might just ask for a little money, but nine times out of 10, they're going to see what else they can get away with," said Brewer-Montero.

She added (romance) scammers always have an emergency, whether a family member is sick or needs money for their medication. Brewer-Montero said the person will come up with all kinds of excuses as to why they need the money and why they can't meet in person.

Beth Stranges, the Director of the Chemung County Department of Aging & Long Term Care said it's important not to give anyone your personal information, even if the person claims to be someone you know. She also said big-name stores are giving their employees scripts to help warn customers of gift card scams at the checkout, before spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

"I know in some of the big box stores, this is something they're training their employees [on]. [This is] to make sure they're asking those questions when individuals are coming in and purchasing large gift cards or multiple gift cards. They have a script which [can help] deter the gift card scams that are going around right now," said Stranges.

According to the Federal Trades Commission, 186,540 people in New York reported they were victims of fraud or scam in 2022. In 2022, the FTC reported that adults 70 years old or older lost an average of $10,000 to scammers, and people younger than 70 years old lost an average of $2,500.

"A lot of times the elderly won't report it themselves because once they realize they're scammed, they become embarrassed. Some are afraid that you know maybe the family is going to intervene and say 'Hey, maybe it's time to get you [out of] the environment that you're living in and get [you into] a different structured area. There's a lot of reasons why it doesn't get reported unless somebody else notices that it's going on," said Chemung County Sheriff, Bill Schrom.

For family members and caregivers, Brewer-Montero said there are a couple of things you should look out for in your older adult. She said if you see the older adult with a stack of gift cards or a pile of gift card receipts, that's a red flag. She also said if the person who doesn't normally play on their phone, tablet, computer, etc. and now all of a sudden they can't put their phone down or log off, that's a red flag. Other red flags include not paying bills, utilities being/about to be shut off, and the fridge/cupboards being bare. These signs could be because someone is spending their money elsewhere, on things like gift cards or wire transfers to a scammer.

Brewer-Montero recommended EverSafe, which is a way to keep track of your family’s finances, credit, bills, and real estate. The site analyzes activity across accounts and institutions. Brewer-Montero suggested people should also try to talk to their older adults to try to get their permission to have access to things like a bank account, so it can be monitored for any unusual activity.

The FTC recommends you contact your bank to let them know of the fraudulent charge and to get your money back, or contact the company or app you used to transfer money through to get your money back. To find out what to do if you paid a scammer, or if you gave a scammer your personal information or access to your computer or phone, click here.