Stop the money first. Investigation comes after.

For active fraud, only the bank can stop pending transactions in the next 90 minutes. Adult Protective Services investigates and matters, but slower. Hit the bank, the credit bureaus, and the police in that order, then loop in Adult Protective Services to document.

Call the bank's fraud line and ask for an elder protective hold

Washington banks have an explicit elder-financial-exploitation hold, separate from regular fraud holds. The script. “I'm calling on behalf of my elderly parent. I believe their account has been compromised by an active scam. I'm requesting an elder protective hold and a review of all transactions in the last 30 days.” The bank can flag the account, slow or reverse pending transfers, and coordinate with the WA Department of Financial Institutions. Most banks hold 5 to 30 days on suspect transactions for vulnerable adults. Get the case number and the rep's name in writing. If the rep refuses or doesn't know the term, ask for a fraud-department supervisor.

Freeze credit at all three bureaus

Free, online, and immediate. Each bureau separately. Equifax, Experian, TransUnion. Or by phone. Equifax 1-800-685-1111, Experian 1-888-397-3742, TransUnion 1-888-909-8872. Freezing prevents new accounts from being opened in the senior's name. Takes about 10 minutes per bureau. You can lift it later when needed. Save the freeze PINs.

File a police report and the FTC report

Call your local non-emergency police line and ask to file a financial-fraud report. The case number is required by some banks for a chargeback. Then file at IdentityTheft.gov, the FTC's elder-fraud portal, which generates an Identity Theft Report you can hand to the bank and to creditors. Most banks accept this report as evidence for fraud disputes.

Then call Adult Protective Services to document

Washington Adult Protective Services (APS) at 1-866-363-4276 (1-866-ENDHARM). Statewide, 24/7. APS won't stop the pending transfers, the bank just did that. APS will document the incident, connect to services for the senior (capacity evaluation, scam-aware support), and flag the case to look out for repeat patterns. Anonymous reports OK.

Lock down the attack vector before the next call

The corpus shows scams that get back in within hours of being kicked out. Reset all email and bank passwords. Remove any phone numbers the scammer added to the account's contact alerts. If the scam originated through a shared email account, separate the accounts and rotate access. Ask the bank to remove any new payee or transfer instructions added in the last 30 days.

After the immediate hour

Once the crisis is delayed or stabilized, you have time. Take the standard quiz to get curated picks for the longer arc. COPES eligibility, your AAA, family caregiver support, what to set up before the next round.

These scripts are paraphrased from caregivers who have been through these situations on r/dementia, r/AgingParents, ALZConnected, and AARP. They are not legal or medical advice. The LTC Ombudsman, your AAA, and the Alzheimer's helpline are all free and can advise on the specifics of your situation.