Commonly known as “elder fraud,” financial crimes against seniors totaled $3.4 billion in 2023, up from $3.1 billion in 2022, according to the FBI’s 2023 “Elder Fraud Report.”
Scam losses reported by Americans over 60 last year increased 11% from the previous year, according to the FBI report. Investigators are warning of a rise in brazen schemes to empty bank accounts that involve sending couriers in person to collect cash or gold from victims.
This situation was also reflected in the 14% increase in complaints filed with the FBI by elderly victims. There were 101,068 complaints filed by people over 60 in 2023, compared to 88,262 in 2022, FBI data shows. The average dollar loss was $33,915, and 5,920 people lost more than $100,000, according to the FBI.
According to reports from the AP agency, Last year, as in 2022, tech support fraud was the number one type of crime affecting whistleblowers over the age of 60.
In this model, they typically involve scammers claiming to support a legitimate company and informing the victim about fraud, activity, or possible refunds for a subscription service.
The scammer tells the victim that he has a refund for the victim; However, money can only be sent by downloading software that allows the scammer to view the victim’s bank account.
The authorities detected that between May and December a scam increased in which couriers go in person to collect money from victims those they convince that their accounts have been hacked, the FBI said.
In such cases, scammers first tell victims that their accounts have been hacked and that they have to convert their assets into cash, gold or other precious metals in order to protect their funds. Then they send the courier to your home to collect the resources in person.
“If you get a robocall out of the blue paying a recorded message trying to get you to buy something, just hang up,” helps James Lee, director of operations at the Identity Theft Resource Center. “The same goes for text messages: every time you get them from a number you don’t know, they ask you to pay, transfer, or click on something suspicious.”
For his part, James Barnicle, head of the FBI’s Financial Crimes Section, urged financial institutions to do more to protect seniors from scams.
“We think financial institutions need to do more, take on some level of fiduciary responsibility and help protect their customers from being victims, especially in the elderly victim space,” he said.
“It can be a devastating blow for elderly citizens who don’t have the ability to go to work and earn money,” insisted James Barnacle, “There are people who lose all their money, who end up destitute.”
He also urged victims to report losses sooner, so the FBI can try to recover the money faster.
However, Barnacle said that detecting organized and transnational plots against elderly citizens through a wide variety of tacticssuch as false romantic proposals or requests to invest money.
Across the United States, illegal calling scams, which involve people posing as fake government officials or fake customer service representatives, generated more than $700 million in 2023, and nearly half of those victims have more 60 years old.
Keep reading:
- Hispanic Walnut woman accused of kidnapping her 16-month-old son may be in Mexico: FBI
- He stole technology from Google and now he must pay the consequences
- Congress approves bill that could ban TikTok in the US