Elderly Fraud Rises in US Amid AI Advances – NBC New York

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Cheaters are winning.

Sophisticated overseas criminals are stealing tens of billions of dollars from Americans every year, and the crime wave is likely to get worse as the American population ages and technologies like AI make it easier than ever to commit and get away with fraud. has made

Cathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention at AARP's Fraud Watch Network, said Internet and telephone scams have grown “exponentially,” with overwhelming police and prosecutors catching and convicting relatively few criminals.

Victims rarely get their money back, including older people who have lost their life savings to romance scams, grandparent scams, tech support fraud and other common scams.

“We're at a fraud crisis level in society,” Stokes said. “A lot of people get into this field because it's so easy to become a criminal.” They don't have to follow any rules. And you can make a lot more money, and then you're less likely to get caught.”

A recent Ohio case, in which an 81-year-old man was targeted by a scammer and allegedly responded with violence, illustrates the challenge for law enforcement.

Police say the man shot and killed an Uber driver after she mistakenly assumed she was in a plan to collect $12,000 in bond money for a relative. The driver fell victim to the same scammer, according to authorities, sent halfway home between Dayton and Columbus to pick up a package for delivery.

Homeowner William Brock was charged with murder in the March 25 fatal shooting of Lou-Letha Hall, but the fraudster who threatened Brock over the phone and set the tragic chain of events in motion was released three months later. is still on the loose after more than

Brooke pleaded not guilty, saying she feared for her life.

Advantage scammers

Online and telephone rackets have become so common that law enforcement and adult protective services lack the resources to keep up.

“It's a little bit like drinking from a fire hose,” said Brady Finta, a former FBI agent who oversaw major fraud investigations. “There's so much to it that, logically and rationally, it's almost impossible to get over right now.”

Investigating grafts can also be difficult, especially those that originate overseas, with stolen funds quickly converted into hard-to-track cryptocurrencies or transferred to foreign bank accounts. .

According to Paul Greenwood, who spent 22 years prosecuting major financial abuse cases in San Diego, some police departments don't take financial scams as seriously as other crimes and discourage and discourage victims.

“There are a lot of law enforcement who think that because a victim voluntarily sends money through gift cards or wire transfers, or to buy crypto, that they are actually engaging in a consensual transaction,” he said. said Greenwood, who teaches police in the country how to detect fraud. “And that's a big mistake because it's not. It's not consensual. They've been deceived.”

Federal prosecutors typically don't get involved until the fraud reaches a certain dollar amount, Greenwood said.

The U.S. Department of Justice says it does not impose a monetary threshold for federal prosecutions of major financial abuses. But he confirmed that some of the 93 U.S. attorneys' offices nationwide can set their own limits, giving priority to cases with more victims or greater financial implications. Federal prosecutors file hundreds of elder fraud and abuse cases each year.

The Federal Trade Commission says the “vast majority” of fraud goes unreported. Often, victims are reluctant to come forward.

A 74-year-old woman recently accused of robbing a credit union north of Cincinnati was the victim of an online scam, according to her family. Authorities say they believe the woman was victimized by a scammer, but she did not file a formal police report.

“These guys are very good at what they do, and they're very good at scamming people and extorting money from them,” said Fairview Township, Ohio, police Sgt. Brandon McCroskey, who investigated the robbery. “I've seen people almost want to fight the police and the bank tellers because they … believe in their minds that they need to get this money out.”

A disastrous scheme

Older people tend to have more wealth as a group and present a ripe target for fraudsters. The impact can be devastating as many of these victims are past their working years and do not have much time to recoup their losses.

Elder fraud complaints to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center rose 14 percent last year, with losses up 11 percent to $3.4 billion, according to a recent FBI report.

According to other estimates, the annual loss is much higher.



When you go to the bank and make a deposit, it seems like your money is just being stored – ready for you to use, but did you know that it's not locked away in the bank? What happens to this money and how do banks use it to make profit?

A 2023 AARP study calculated that Americans over age 60 lose $28.3 billion to fraud each year. The Federal Trade Commission, in an effort to account for unreported losses, estimated that fraudsters stole a staggering $137 billion in 2022, including $48 billion from older adults. The study's authors acknowledged “considerable uncertainty.”

In San Diego, William Bortz, 80, said criminals stole about $700,000 of his family's nest egg in an elaborate scheme that involved no Amazon orders, a fake “refund processing center” in Hong Kong. , bank statements and an instruction that Bortz needed to “reconcile the bank accounts” to get his money back.

Bortz's scammer was persistent and persuasive, harassing her with dozens of phone calls and, at one point, taking control of her computer.

Even though he was the victim of a crime, Bortz struggles with blaming himself.

“I now understand why abuse at such an advanced age is never reported. Because when you look back on it, you think, 'How could I have been so stupid?'” said Bortz, who He retired after a career in banking, financial services and real estate.

His daughter, Eve Williams, said local police and the FBI were diligent in their efforts to track down the overseas scammer and recover the money, but met with several setbacks. The family blamed Bortz's bank, which Williams said ignored numerous red flags and facilitated several large wire transfers from her father over an eight-day period. The bank denied wrongdoing and the family's case against it was dismissed.

“Scammers are getting better,” Williams said. “We need to give our law enforcement the tools they need, and we need to improve our banks because they are the first line of defense.” “

The Justice Department says the industry needs to do more, saying the U.S. cannot drive its way out of the problem.

“Private industry — including the tech, retail, banking, fintech, and telecommunications sectors — must make it harder for fraudsters to defraud victims and launder victims' money,” the agency said in a statement to The Associated Press. “

The way forward

Banking industry officials told a Senate subcommittee in May that they are investing heavily in new technologies to prevent fraud, “and have some big promises.” The American Bankers Association says it is working on a program to coordinate real-time communication between banks to better flag suspicious activity and reduce the flow of stolen funds. could

But industry officials said banks alone cannot stop fraud. America needs a comprehensive national strategy to combat fraudsters, he said, describing the federal government's current efforts as uncoordinated and uncoordinated.

Law enforcement and industry need to join forces to fight fraud more quickly and effectively, said Finta, a former FBI agent who has worked with law enforcement and giants like Walmart, Amazon, and others. Started a nonprofit called the National Elder Fraud Coordination Center to promote better cooperation between corporations. And Google.

“There are very, very smart people and very powerful, wealthy companies who want this to stop,” he said. “I think we have the ability to make a greater impact and help our brothers and sisters in law enforcement who are dealing with this tsunami of fraud.

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