In March, a judge sentenced Monty Matthews to almost five years in federal prison after he was convicted of scamming two victims over 60 out of $1 million.
“The victims were left with virtually no retirement savings,” federal prosecutors said in announcing the sentence.
Matthews, 52, of Baton Rouge, told victims he could make investments on their behalf, assured them they could make high rates of return, and threatened to injure them if they did not make payments, according to his guilty plea.
In a similar case in April, Mohammad Alam, 50, pleaded guilty to a computer fraud scheme that targeted elderly victims in the U.S., including in Louisiana, and took in about $340,000 in fraudulent profits. Alam and other members of the scheme tricked victims into thinking their computers needed support, then offered to fix them for a fee.
After the victims paid, Alam would seek access to their bank accounts under the guise that they were entitled to a discount, and manipulate account balances so the victims thought they owed money to the computer company.
The number and severity of fraud cases like this — specifically those targeting the elderly — have grown with alarming speed, federal officials say.
In 2022, the total number of fraud complaints received from victims over the age of 60 was more than 88,000, according to a new Elder Fraud report from the FBI. About $3.1 billion in losses were reported in 2022, a whopping 84% increase over 2021.
Call center fraud was the most common. Monetary losses due to investment fraud targeting seniors increased over 300%, more than any other kind of fraud, due to the rising trend of cryptocurrency investment scams.
In Louisiana, the FBI reported 721 victims in 2022, which is actually fewer than the 860 reported in 2021. But Louisiana seniors are still losing millions of dollars to fraud.
“The cases we see in Louisiana are very similar to the national report,” said Acting Supervisory Special Agent Clinton Epperson, FBI New Orleans — Financial Crimes.
Technical-support and romance scams are the most common complaints in Louisiana.
“Technical-support fraud can occur in unsolicited telephone calls, sometimes from someone with a strong, foreign accent, and who often identify themselves as representatives of well-known companies or even the government,” Epperson said. “This type of fraud also includes pop-up messages or locked screens on the victim’s computer screen or device claiming a virus was found and providing a phone number to a fraudulent tech-support company to call for assistance.”
In romance scams, fraudsters strike up relationships with seniors seeking companionship on a well-known platform, then request to move the relationship to a different platform that allows for more anonymity. There, they will attempt to ingratiate themselves to the victim and eventually request money.
“Senior citizens trust that companies reaching out to them for information are the real deal, and in romance scams seniors may trust the person they have created a relationship with due to loneliness and the sincere search for companionship,” Epperson said. “This can lead to financial heartbreak.”
In West Baton Rouge, Landon Groger, public information officer for the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, said fraud has been an issue for the past few years.
“Technology is at our fingertips, therefore as technology is ever evolving it makes it easier for ‘scammers’ to reach us. I know personally, my dad has had texts like, ‘Amazon Account click the link below.’ He called me and we had to discuss it,” he said.
A Federal Trade Commission report found that adults 60 and older were nearly five times as likely as adults aged 20 to 59 to report losing money to a tech support scam. Older adults were more than twice as likely to report a loss to a prize, lottery or sweepstakes scam, and 45% more likely to report losing money to a friend or family impersonation scam.
The report found scams where older adults were contacted on social media are on the rise; losses from social media scams more than doubled between 2020 and 2021.
Fraud often goes unreported
While the FBI and FTC numbers are high, the true scale of fraud as the issue is underreported and often hard to track, experts say.
“If somebody is charged with elder abuse, it’s typically physical. And if we get a call that, say, an elderly person got scammed, that’s a theft. So there’s no way to quantify the numbers,” said Casey Hicks, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office public information officer.
Still, Hicks said detectives in the sheriff’s office have observed an increase.
“It’s definitely underreported,” she said. “We go out and speak about how to safeguard finances and people will say, ‘well I had this happen to me, but I didn’t call anybody.’ One, because they didn’t think anything could be done about it, and two, because they might be embarrassed.”
The AARP Fraud Watch Network, a free helpline, gets hundreds of calls every day. Last year, the line received more than 100,000 calls, and is on track to outpace that in 2023.
That number compared to law enforcement data gives a hint at how underreported the issue is, said Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention at AARP.
The 2022 FTC report found adults 60 and older were “substantially less likely” to report losing money to fraud than adults aged 20-59.
“One of the reasons for that is because as a society, somewhere along the line over the last few years, we’ve stopped thinking of scams as a crime,” said Stokes. “So people don’t think to call the police. Maybe they’re humiliated because of how often we blame victims.”
She said victims might be worried police will say, “Well, you gave someone that information, so there’s nothing we can do.”
“Fundamentally, we have got to change that. People are losing what amounts to generational wealth these days,” she said.
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help, as more people were pushed to use online services and people relied on email, texting and social media more than ever. Scammers also moved online and have become increasingly sophisticated.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with age or diminished capacity or not understanding tech; it’s just the criminals have gotten so good they make the scams look virtually unrecognizable as scams,” Stokes said.
How to prevent fraud
AARP encourages people to set the software on their mobile and other devices to update automatically, as new software updates often catch known vulnerabilities to fraud. It advises using virus scanning software and turning automatic updates on for that as well, and it tells members to use strong, unique passwords and to never click on links in emails or texts.
The FBI offers additional tips, including:
- Search online for the contact information and the proposed offer. Other people have likely posted information online about individuals and businesses trying to run scams.
- Resist the pressure to act quickly. Scammers create a sense of urgency to produce fear and lure victims into immediate action. Call the police immediately if you feel there is a danger to yourself or a loved one.
- Be cautious of unsolicited phone calls, mailings, and door-to-door service offers.
- Never give or send any personally identifiable information, money, jewelry, gift cards, checks, or wire information to unverified people or businesses.
- Disconnect from the internet and shut down your device if you see a pop-up message or locked screen. Pop-ups are regularly used by perpetrators to spread malicious software. Enable pop-up blockers to avoid accidentally clicking on a pop-up.
- Legitimate customer, security, or tech support companies will not initiate unsolicited contact with individuals; nor will they demand immediate payment or require payment via prepaid cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, or mailed cash.
- Never give unknown, unverified persons remote access to devices or accounts.
- Be careful what you download. Never open an email attachment from someone you do not know and be wary of email attachments forwarded to you.
- Take precautions to protect your identity if a criminal gains access to your device or account. Immediately contact your financial institutions to place protections on your accounts and monitor your accounts and personal information for suspicious activity.
- Winners of legitimate lotteries and beneficiaries do not need to pay upfront taxes and fees to claim a prize or inheritance. Playing foreign lotteries in any form is a violation of federal law.
- Be careful what you post and make public online. Scammers can use details shared on social media and dating sites to better understand and target you.
- Government or law enforcement officials will not demand payment by cryptocurrency, prepaid cards, wire transfers, or overnight mailed cash, nor contact a subject by phone to notify they are under investigation
“Don’t be embarrassed or afraid to report fraud either to local law enforcement or the FBI,” Epperson said. “The FBI has an Elder Fraud Hotline we encourage people to call whether they are the victim or a family member. The Hotline number is 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). Incidents can also be reported to your local field office (1-800-CALL-FBI) or to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.”
Reporting fraud to the FBI helps the organization track scams and prevent future crime. Public awareness also helps. Stokes from AARP said research shows that if someone has heard of a specific scam, they are 80% less likely to engage in it.
“I think that the positive in all of this is that we’re getting coverage of the issue,” she said. “If you learn something new, share it with everybody you know.”
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