Scams targeting older Americans are surging during Joe Biden’s Presidency.
These wicked criminals are getting more creative in their tactics.
And the FBI sounded the alarm on this bone-chilling scheme targeting seniors.
FBI says fraud targeting seniors cost victims more than $3 billion
According to a new report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), elder fraud is on the rise.
The FBI’s 2023 Elder Fraud Report found that scams targeting Americans over the age of 60 cost victims $3.4 billion, a rise from $3.1 billion in 2022.
The number of complaints filed with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) – the federal cyber crime agency – jumped by 11% in 2023.
Victims lost on average about $34,000, with about 5%, 5,920 people, reporting losses over $100,000.
These alarming statistics might not even tell the entire story.
FBI Criminal Investigative Division Assistant Director Michael Nordwall said, “These numbers do not fully capture the frauds and scams targeting this vulnerable cross-section of our population, as only about half of the more than 880,000 complaints received by IC3 in 2023 included age data.”
The most common scam targeting Americans over 60 was tech support fraud, while investment scams were the costliest in terms of money lost.
“Tech support scams, according to the FBI, usually involve scammers claiming to be support from a legitimate company and informing the victim of fraudulent activity or potential refund for a subscription service. The scammer tells the victim they have a refund for the victim, however, money can only be sent by downloading a software that allows the scammer to view the victim’s bank account,” ABC News reported.
FBI Financial Crimes Section Chief James Barnicle warned that scams often come from call centers in India, Laos, Cambodia, and African countries.
He said that in addition to having victims report crimes, the Bureau wants to come after the scammers.
“We’re looking to arrest people,” Barnicle said. “We’re going to work with law enforcement agencies around the world, in whatever jurisdiction has the best fit and can get hands-on in some countries. Maybe we can’t get hands on an offender, but maybe our partners can, whether it’s Australia or Japan or the United Kingdom — so we’re looking to arrest people.”
Scammers getting more aggressive against their victims
FBI Financial Crimes Assistant Section Chief Christopher Soyez described to ABC News a recent experience that he had with a scammer.
“The tone of the text messages took a real aggressive turn — threats of violence to me and my family,” Soyez said. “There were some pretty graphic photos of what things that would happen to me. And he got pretty aggressive.”
He said that the FBI is seeing a trend of scammers getting more aggressive and confrontational with their victims.
“They were taking steps to really intimidate me… and somebody — especially an older American, my mother, and my grandmother would have certainly been very terrified of this,” Soyez said.
The sooner that a crime is reported to the FBI, the greater the chance of recovering the stolen money.
Scams are increasing against Americans over the age of 60 with more sophisticated technology.
