I think both are true. The kinds of scams my grandparents (and even parents) fall for are trivially recognizable as scams to me. It takes more work to defraud someone who knows more about the way thing are supposed to work.

But yes, it's definitely still possible for anyone to fall for more sophisticated scams, and there being more money to be had is a huge part of it. Either way the effect is the same: more protection is necessary than was before.