In 2023, baby boomers will be swindled out of more than $3.4 billion by scammers who call elderly victims with offers of bogus tech support or transfer money to fake accounts, leaving some “poor ” remained, federal officials said.
According to one study, the amount of fraud reported by Americans 60 and older jumped 11% last year compared to the previous year. FBI report It was released on Tuesday.
In total, federal authorities received more than 100,000 complaints from baby boomers (people between the ages of 59 and 77) who said they were victims of these scams.
About 6,000 of them lost more than $100,000.
“This could have a devastating effect on older Americans who don’t have the ability to go out and earn money,” said James Barnacle, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Division.
“People lose all their possessions. Some people become destitute.”
Last year, the most commonly reported scams among seniors involved criminals calling homes pretending to be tech support or customer service representatives.
The FBI warned of a growing trend of scammers impersonating technology, banking, and government officials to trick victims into believing their bank accounts have been hacked.
To solve this problem, the scammer instructs the victim to move the funds to a new account, one that the scammer actually controls.
In some cases, criminals have people drain their bank accounts under the guise that they need to convert assets into cash or purchase gold or other precious metals to protect their funds.
The scammer then brazenly sends a courier to the victim’s home to collect the cash or gold.
Federal investigators observed an increase in these serious crimes from May to December.
In other cases, “fraud schemes ask victims to send money via wire transfers or cryptocurrency transfers,” Barnacle said.
“If the victim doesn’t want that, they’re given an alternative. So the bad guys will use a courier.”
The FBI also noted that the economic losses suffered by baby boomers are likely underestimated.
Of the more than 880,000 total complaints filed to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center last year, only about half included information about the victim’s age.
Earlier this month, an 81-year-old man was targeted in a phone scam that resulted in the death of an innocent Uber driver who was being delivered to his home in West Virginia.
William Bullock received a call that an incarcerated relative was threatening him and his family and demanding money.
AP
The Uber driver was also contacted by the same person or an accomplice and was instructed to pick up a package from Bullock’s home via the rideshare company’s app.
When she arrived, Bullock allegedly demanded that the unarmed woman identify the person who contacted her and took her cell phone when she refused to leave.
After an argument, Bullock shot the woman three times and then called 911, officials said.
Bullock allegedly told a dispatcher that he had shot a man who was trying to rob him.
