WASHINGTON (AP) – Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, according to an FBI report released Tuesday. The report shows that losses are mounting due to increasingly sophisticated criminal techniques to trick vulnerable people into abandoning their life savings.
According to an FBI report, the amount of fraud reported by Americans over 60 last year increased by 11% compared to the previous year. Investigators have warned of an increase in brazen schemes to compromise bank accounts by sending couriers directly to collect cash and gold from victims.
“For older Americans who don't have the ability to go out and earn money, this could have devastating effects,” said James Barnacle, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigation Division. “People lose all their possessions. Some people become destitute.”
Last year, the FBI received more than 100,000 complaints from fraud victims over the age of 60, with about 6,000 people losing more than $100,000. This comes after older Americans reported a surge in the two years following the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, as people were stuck at home and scammers had an easier time making phone calls. Thing.
Barnacle said investigators have identified an organized, transnational criminal ring targeting older Americans through a variety of techniques, including romance and investment fraud.
Last year, the most commonly reported scam among seniors was tech support scams, where criminals pretend to be technical or customer service representatives over the phone. Officials say this type of scam is growing in popularity because criminals impersonate technology, banking, or government officials to trick victims into believing that foreign hackers have broken into their bank accounts and protect their funds. The company will instruct them to transfer their money to a new account that is secretly managed. By scammers.
According to the FBI, between May and December, federal agents observed an increase in scammers using live couriers to defraud victims of cash by tricking them into believing their accounts had been compromised. In these cases, scammers protect their funds by telling victims that their bank account has been hacked and they need to convert their assets into cash or buy gold or other precious metals. The scammer will then arrange for a courier to come directly to pick it up.
“Many fraud schemes ask victims to send money via wire transfer or cryptocurrency transfer. If the victim doesn’t want to do that, they are given an alternative,” Barnacle said. And the bad guys end up using courier services.”
Earlier this month, an 81-year-old Ohio man shot and killed an Uber driver he believed was attempting to rob him after receiving a fraudulent phone call, authorities said.
The man had received a phone call from someone pretending to be a district court employee demanding money. The Uber driver was told to pick up the package from the man's home, and authorities say the request may have come from the same scam caller or an accomplice.
The staggering toll on older Americans is probably underestimated. Of his more than 880,000 complaints reported to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center last year, only about half included information about the victim's age.