Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, according to an FBI analysis issued Tuesday, indicating a spike in losses caused by increasingly sophisticated criminal tactics used to deceive the vulnerable into giving up their life savings.
Losses from scams reported by Americans over the age of 60 increased 11% last year compared to the previous year, according to the FBI.
Investigators are warning of an increase in brazen bank account-draining operations that entail deploying couriers in person to collect cash or gold from victims.
“It can have a devastating impact on older Americans who lack the ability to go out and make money,” said Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “People lose all their money. Some people become destitute.”
Last year, the FBI received more than 100,000 complaints from victims of scammers over the age of 60, with over 6,000 individuals losing more than $100,000.
It comes after a significant increase in reported losses by older Americans in the two years following the 2020 coronavirus epidemic, when people were confined to their homes and easier to reach over the phone.
Barnacle stated that investigators are finding organised, transnational criminal enterprises targeting older Americans through a variety of schemes, such as romance scams and investment frauds.
Last year, the most common type of fraud reported by older individuals was tech support scams, in which scammers impersonate technical or customer care staff over the phone.
In one such scam, which authorities say is becoming more popular, criminals impersonate technology, banking, and government officials to convince victims that foreign hackers have infiltrated their bank accounts and that they should transfer their funds to a new account that the scammers secretly control.
According to the FBI, between May and December, there was an increase in scammers utilising live couriers to steal money from victims who were fooled into believing their accounts had been hijacked.
In those circumstances, scammers inform victims that their bank accounts have been compromised and that they must sell their possessions for cash or purchase gold or other precious metals to secure their savings. The fraudsters then arrange for a courier to collect it in person.
“A lot of the fraud schemes ask victims to send money via a wire transfer or a cryptocurrency transfer. When the victim is reluctant to do that, they’re given an alternative,” Barnacle said. “And so the bad guy will use courier services.”
According to prosecutors, an 81-year-old Ohio man shot and killed an Uber driver who he believed was attempting to rob him after receiving fraudulent phone calls earlier this month.
The man had been receiving calls from someone claiming to be an officer from the local court and demanding money.
The Uber driver had been instructed to get a package from the man’s residence, a request that officials believe was made by the same hoax caller or an accomplice.
The enormous losses to older Americans are most likely an underestimate. Only roughly half of the more than 880,000 complaints submitted to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre last year included information about the victim’s age.
