Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, an FBI report says
WASHINGTON — Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, according to an FBI report released Tuesday that shows an increase in losses due to increasingly sophisticated criminal tactics to lure the vulnerable into giving up their savings.
According to the FBI report, losses from scams reported by Americans over 60 last year increased 11% from the year before. Researchers are warning of a rise in brazen bank account drain schemes, with couriers personally sent to collect cash or gold from victims.
“It could have a devastating impact on older Americans who are unable to get out and earn money,” said Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “People are losing all their money. Some people become destitute.”
The FBI received more than 100,000 complaints last year from scam victims over the age of 60, with nearly 6,000 people losing more than $100,000. It follows a sharp increase in reported losses by older Americans in the two years following the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, when people were stuck at home and scammers found it easier to reach by phone.
Barnacle said investigators are seeing organized, transnational criminal enterprises targeting older Americans through a variety of schemes, such as romance scams and investment fraud.
The most reported fraud among older adults last year was tech support scams, in which criminals pretend to be tech or customer service representatives on the phone. In one scam that authorities say is becoming increasingly popular, criminals impersonate technology, banking and government officials to convince victims that foreign hackers have infiltrated their bank accounts and instruct them that to protect their money, they should send it to having to move a new account – one that is secretly managed. by the scammers.
According to the FBI, federal investigators saw an increase in the number of scammers using live couriers to take money from victims who believed their accounts had been compromised between May and December. In those cases, scammers tell victims that their bank accounts have been hacked and that they need to liquidate their assets into cash or buy gold or other precious metals to protect their money. The fraudsters then arrange for a courier to collect it personally.
“Many of the fraud schemes ask victims to send money via bank transfer or cryptocurrency transfer. If the victim doesn’t want to do that, they will be given an alternative,” Barnacle said. “And so the bad guy will use courier services.”
Earlier this month, an 81-year-old Ohio man fatally shot an Uber driver he thought was trying to rob him after receiving scam calls, authorities said.
The man had received phone calls from someone posing as an officer from the local court demanding money. The Uber driver had been instructed to pick up a package from the man’s house. Authorities said a request may have been made by the same scammer or an accomplice.
The staggering losses for older Americans are likely an undercount. Only about half of the more than 880,000 complaints reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Compliance Center last year included information about the victim’s age.