Chase customers can name a trusted adult the bank may notify about certain transactions, a feature the bank highlighted on October 19 as part of its Fraud & Scam Prevention Month. Chase describes the trusted contact as someone a customer authorizes the bank to reach if it cannot get in touch with the customer. Chase says that person has no access to the customer’s money.
What Chase says a trusted contact does
In its October 19 release announcing a November education campaign, Chase described the feature as one that “allows customers to designate a trusted adult who may be notified of certain transactions.” The stated purpose is to guard against fraud or financial exploitation.
Chase’s financial exploitation page defines a Trusted Contact Person as someone the customer authorizes the bank to reach when something does not seem right. It lists potential fraud, cognitive decline and financial exploitation as the situations. The contact “doesn’t have access to your money,” Chase says, though the person can help protect the customer and the account.
An “Add your contact” link on that page leads to Chase’s sign-in page. Neither Chase page says which transactions trigger a notice, how old the contact must be, or whether every type of Chase account is covered.
The contact is a person the bank may call, not a co-owner of the account. Anyone with a Chase account who wants a backup for a bad day still has to decide who that person is and what the person should do if the bank phones.
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The scam pattern a second person can interrupt
The Federal Trade Commission’s data spotlight on older adults counts 8,269 reports of losses of $10,000 or more from people 60 and older in 2024, up from 1,790 in 2020. Those counts cover government and business impersonation scams alone. Reports of losses above $100,000 rose nearly sevenfold over the same stretch.
In 2024, 41% of the $10,000-plus reports began with a phone call. Cryptocurrency was the payment method in 33%, mostly at Bitcoin ATMs, and bank transfers in 20%. For losses above $100,000, bank transfers were the most common method at 32%.
Age makes a difference in those reports. After adjusting for population, the FTC found older adults in 2024 were more than twice as likely as younger consumers to report a loss of $10,000 or more, and three times as likely to report a loss above $100,000. Combined reported losses in the over-$100,000 group rose eightfold from 2020 to 2024.
Banks are among the businesses scammers imitate. The FTC says a caller may claim the bank has flagged “suspicious activity” and tell the victim to move money to protect it. The agency adds that a phone call creates fear and urgency, and that scammers keep victims on the line so they cannot talk to a friend or relative who might spot the scam.
A named contact puts a second person into that gap, though only at the bank’s discretion. The release says a trusted adult “may be notified,” and it does not say how quickly.
Chase’s November workshops and what the bank spends
Chase Community Managers will host free workshops throughout November in all lower 48 states. The release lists no dates or cities and points readers to Chase.com/security and to a local workshop. Topics include impersonation scams, package delivery phishing, gift card scams, fake online deals and fraudulent charity solicitations.
“Scammers are constantly adapting their tactics, making education and awareness more important than ever,” said Jennifer Roberts, CEO of Consumer Banking at Chase. The bank says it hosts more than 1,000 fraud and scam prevention workshops a year and has served more than 1 million customers through its financial wellness initiatives.
Earlier in 2026, JPMorganChase announced nearly $14 million in philanthropic investments for consumer awareness, real-time prevention and victim support. Chase serves more than 88 million consumers through 5,100 branches in 48 states and Washington, D.C., and 14,300 ATMs. The release contains no scam-loss figures of its own. A related Chase release dated October 14 covers AI fraud-fighting advice at 700 Chase branches nationwide.
Where bank tools stop and regulators start
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lists elder financial exploitation prevention as a key issue on its resources for older adults. The page points to its Money Smart for Older Adults course and to a data spotlight on suspicious activity reports about elder financial exploitation. It does not discuss trusted contacts.
Chase’s own materials add that fraud prevention is built into account opening, authentication, payments and customer service, and that the bank is expanding passkeys against phishing and account takeover. A trusted contact sits on top of those controls, not in place of them.
The open question for a Chase customer is what the bank will send and when. The release says only that a trusted adult “may be notified of certain transactions,” and the account’s own settings are where the specifics have to be found.
Is a trusted contact enough if a scam call gets through?
A trusted contact depends on a bank alert and on a person picking up the phone. A scam that moves money in the first hour can be over before either happens, and in the FTC’s data 33% of the $10,000-plus losses by people 60 and older went out as cryptocurrency.
The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit lays out the first-hour recovery plan and the free credit-freeze steps. It also includes a fraud evidence and report log, so the calls, dates and reference numbers from a bad day sit in one place.
Get the first-hour recovery plan and credit-freeze steps in this fraud kit →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 15 Steps to Stop the Scams That Took $7.7 Billion From Seniors
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
