Fraudsters stole more than $3.4 billion from elderly Americans last year, according to a FBI report published Tuesday which shows an increase in losses thanks to criminal tactics to encourage the most vulnerable to give up their savings.
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, which involve sending couriers in person to collect cash or gold from victims.
“This can have a devastating impact on older Americans who don’t have the ability to go out and earn money,” said James Barnacle, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Division. “People are losing all their money. Some people become destitute.
Last year, the FBI received more than 100,000 complaints from scam victims over the age of 60, and nearly 6,000 people lost more than $100,000. This follows a sharp increase in losses reported by older Americans in the two years following the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, when people were stuck at home and easier for scammers to reach by phone.
Barnacle said investigators observed transnational organized criminal enterprises targeting older Americans through a variety of schemes, such as love scams And investment fraud.
The most commonly reported fraud among seniors last year was tech support fraud, in which criminals impersonate technical or customer service representatives over the phone. In one such scam that authorities say is growing in popularity, criminals pose as technology, banking and government officials to convince victims that foreign hackers have infiltrated their bank accounts and tell them that to protect their money, they have to transfer it to a new account – a secretly controlled account. by scammers.
Federal investigators saw an increase between May and December in the number of scammers using live couriers to take money from victims tricked into believing their accounts had been compromised, according to the FBI. In these cases, scammers tell victims that their bank accounts have been hacked and that they need to liquidate their assets in cash or buy gold or other precious metals to protect their funds. The fraudsters then arrange for a courier to pick it up in person.
“Many fraudulent schemes ask victims to send money via wire transfer or cryptocurrency transfer. When the victim is reluctant to do so, an alternative is offered,” Barnacle said. “And so the bad guy will use courier services.”
Earlier this month, an 81-year-old Ohio man shot and killed an Uber driver he thought he was trying to steal it after receiving fraudulent phone calls, authorities said.
The man had received calls from someone posing as a local court officer demanding money. THE Uber The driver was asked to pick up a package from the man’s home, a request that authorities believe could have been made by the same fraudulent caller or by an accomplice.
The enormous losses suffered by older Americans are likely underestimated. Only about half of the more than 880,000 complaints reported to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center last year, information on the victim’s age was included.
