WASHINGTON, DC — More than 260 people from around the country were caught up in a the largest coordinated sweep yet of elder fraud cases, Attorney General William P. Barr said Thursday. The Justice Department said those arrested scammed more than 2 million Americans, most of them elderly, out of more than $750 million.
No U.S. state was untouched in the sweep. The Justice Department said it either filed criminal or civil cases in every federal district court in the country, or launched consumer education initiatives. Last year’s sweep also set records, but this year’s saw 13 percent more criminal defendants, 28 percent more in losses and twice the number of victims, Barr said.
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As part of the sweep, law enforcement authorities took down a fraudulent tech-support scheme, an increasingly common form of elder fraud in which criminals trick victims into giving them access to their computers under the guise of providing technical support. In 2018, these scams were responsible for more than 142,000 consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network.
Those 60 and older filed more loss reports on tech-support scams from 2015 to 2018 than for any other fraud category reported to the Consumer Sentinel Network, the statement said.
The sweep also resulted in the arrest of more than 600 accused “money mules,” usually foreign-based individuals who transfers money acquired illegally in person, through the mail, or electronically, on behalf of others.
Various state and federal agencies, including Senior Corps, a national service program administered by the federal agency the Corporation for National and Community Service, have launched public education campaigns to prevent further victimization, the Justice Department statement said.
Elder fraud complaints may filed with the FTC or by calling (877) FTC-HELP. Other resources to prevent elder abuse fraud are available at the Office of Victims of Crime.
Scams targeting the elderly cause about $2.9 billion in losses annually, according to an earlier report from the government’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Among the key findings of that report: