We've all gotten spam calls from unknown numbers that we may have answered, especially as tricky robo calls have been on the rise in recent years. Yet, whether or not you fall for a scam may actually be an early warning sign of developing dementia down the road. A recent study published in Annals of Internal Medicine has associated low scam awareness with an increased risk of Alzheimer's.

Most people experience more subtle changes in their thinking and judgment before the memory problems of Alzheimer’s become obvious. Neuropsychologist Patricia Boyle of Rush University’s Alzheimer’s disease center designed the study to see if the type of judgment missteps that can leave someone susceptible to scams could be a warning sign.

The study included 935 participants in their 70s and 80s who answered a questionnaire that measured their level of "scam awareness" and had yearly brain tests done for an average of six years.

During the study, 151 seniors were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and another 255 with mild cognitive impairment, sometimes a precursor for Alzheimer’s. Participants with low scam awareness at the study’s start were more likely to have developed each of those conditions than seniors who were more aware of scam vulnerability.

Furthermore, the 264 participants who died during the study underwent brain autopsies. The lower the scam awareness at the study’s start, the more people had a buildup of sticky plaque in their brains that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

It's important to note the study doesn't prove a link between low scam awareness and impending cognitive impairment. The findings do suggest that changes in social judgment occur before changes in thinking and memory are recognizable. These notable findings should be a call to action for the financial industry and their regulators, as well as health care systems.

With more than 40 years in the workforce under their belt, boomers have managed to save enough money to thoroughly enjoy their retirement. In fact, the average retirement savings for boomers born between 1948-1953 is $290,00 and $209,000 for those born between 1954-1959. Nearly 30% of boomers have no retirement savings, so these numbers only represent those that do. In any event, it’s no wonder the net worth of baby boomer households is nearly twelve times the net worth of millennial households. So, while every generation is at risk of being scammed, baby boomers are an especially prime target because of their substantial life savings.  But it’s not just spam calls and robo calls that boomers should be aware of. Baby boomers should also be particularly wary of financial fraud. Here are the top current financial scams targeting boomers.

• Contractor Scams, when boomers pay for work in advance and the scammers disappear with the down payment.
• Medical fraud, when boomers are billed for additional tests and exams they never actually received
• Reverse mortgage scams, when boomers are purposely misled about the terms
• Other common financial scams targeting boomes include bereavement, pyramid schemes, ponzi schemes, and counterfeit prescription drug scams.