Resist the pressure to act quickly; be cautious of unsolicited phone calls, mailings, and door-to-door services offers. Image: Kaspars Grinvalds/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe FBI has said that instances of fraud and scams reported to its internet crime complaint center increased by 11 percent overall in 2023, including a 14 percent increase in those targeting those age 60 and older.
Of the estimated $12.5 billion in total losses, the 60 and above group accounted for $3.4 billion, it said.
“Nationwide, tech support fraud was the number one crime type impacting complainants over 60 with nearly 18,000 complaints and almost $600 million in reported losses, while investment scams continued to be the costliest to the elderly with losses exceeding $1.2 billion,” it said.
“Call center schemes overwhelmingly target older adults, to devastating effect. Almost half of the complainants were over 60 (40%), and experienced 58% of the losses—almost $770 million. Complainants over the age of 60 lost more to these scams than all other age groups combined, and reportedly remortgaged/foreclosed homes, emptied retirement accounts, and borrowed from family and friends to cover losses in these scams. Some victims have reportedly taken their own lives because of shame or loss of sustainable income,” it said.
It said the most common frauds regularly affecting individuals over 60 include (in its words):
* “Confidence/Romance Scam: Criminals pose as interested romantic partners through dating websites to capitalize on their elderly victims’ desire to find companions, or compassion.
* “Tech Support Scam: Criminals pose as tech support representatives and offer to fix nonexistent computer issues—gaining remote access to victims’ devices and, thus, their sensitive information.
* “Cryptocurrency Scam: Scammers convince targeted individuals to withdraw large sums of cash and deposit into cryptocurrency ATMs or kiosks at locations provided by the scammers. Once cash is deposited and converted into cryptocurrency, the scammer transfers it to other cryptocurrency accounts.
* “Investment Scam: Investment fraud involves complex financial crimes often characterized as low-risk investments with guaranteed returns. They comprise of advanced fee frauds, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, market manipulation fraud, real estate investing, and trust-based investing such as cryptocurrency investment scams.”
Recommendations included: resist the pressure to act quickly; be cautious of unsolicited phone calls, mailings, and door-to-door services offers; never give or send any personally identifiable information, money, jewelry, gift cards, checks, or wire information to unverified people or businesses; make sure all computer anti-virus security software and malware protections are up to date; use reputable anti-virus software and firewalls; and report any suspected scams to the police or the FBI.
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