SAN ANTONIO – Whether it’s text messages, knocks on their door, or even people they know, seniors are often targets for scams and financial exploitation.
Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5) wants the city to take more steps to protect older San Antonians. She submitted a policy proposal on Wednesday asking the city to provide “no soliciting” yard signs, lobbying for stronger laws and providing access to legal aid.
Fellow councilwomen Ivalis Meza Gonzalez (D8), Sukh Kaur (D1) and Phyllis Viagran (D3), along with Councilman Ric Galvan (D6), signed onto the council consideration request (CCR) in support of moving it forward.
“Our expectation is that this initiative helps alleviate the impact that we’re seeing in terms of door-to-door fraud,” Castillo told KSAT.
The West Side councilwoman pointed to solar panel solicitation as a particular concern, saying uncompleted work could be fraud. She said her office had also heard of an occasion where someone’s signature was forged.
The city has rules for door-to-door sales already, which requires a peddler’s license, but Castillo wants to review and update the ordinance, pointing to Dallas as an example. Her CCR suggests restricting solicitations after sunset or on Sundays, bonding requirements for some solicitors and requiring ID badges to be displayed.
“Ideally, if established, there could be (an) opportunity to potentially call constituent services office, call 311 to verify that that is in fact a registered solicitor with the city,” Castillo said.
She also wants to make it easy for seniors to enroll in the federal and state do-not-call registries, though that won’t stop scammers from making illegal calls.
“There will always be bad actors, unfortunately,“ Castillo said. ”But we have a responsibility to use every tool in the toolbox to ensure that we’re adding additional protections and barriers from the financial impact to our seniors to these bad actors.”
Castillo said her CCR was prompted by a Public Safety Committee meeting about elder abuse. Department statistics presented during the Sep. 16 meeting showed hundreds of cases of property crimes against seniors.
A slide shared with the Public Safety Committee at a Sep. 16, 2025 meeting. (City of San Antonio)
The presentation also “highlighted,” Castillo said, that “a lot of this risk, financial fraud rather is underreported because it’s often times someone they know.”
Castillo’s CCR also includes proposals for education and awareness along with the partnership of financial institutions to flag suspicious transactions and possible scams.
The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office has a list of things to be on the lookout for with elderly relatives.
Banking activity that is inconsistent with the senior’s habits, such as unusually large withdrawals or ATM use
Financial statements that seem unusual or suspicious
Checks written out of their numerical order
Signature that seems unusual or suspicious
Abrupt or unexplained change in durable power of attorney
Allegations of missing funds from a senior’s account
Sudden increases in credit card activity or a flurry of bounced checks
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