May 3, 2024 • 10 mins
Welcome to another episode of First Fridays with the FBI. Today is focused on the alarming rise of elder fraud and abuse in El Paso, Texas, as reported by the FBI. From January 1, 2024, to yesterday, May 2nd, a staggering 119 victims have reported losses totaling $14.5 million. These numbers paint a distressing picture of exploitation and vulnerability among our senior population. Elder fraud and abuse is a critical issue, hitting close to home for many as it often involves trusted individuals, including family members. Today, we're honored to have SA Jeanette Harper from the El Paso Field Office of the FBI After her insights, I urge you to tune in to our first show on elder abuse featuring SA Terrance Gass. You'll find the link in the comments section below. Let's raise awareness and work towards protecting our seniors from financial exploitation and abuse.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to another episode of First Fridayswith the FBI. Today is focused on
the alarming rides of elder fraud andabuse in El Paso. As reported by
the FBI. From January first,twenty twenty four, to yesterday, May
second, a staggering one hundred nineteenvictims have reported losses totaling fourteen and a
(00:22):
half million dollars. These numbers painta distressing picture of exploitation and vulnerability among
our senior population. Elder fraud andabuse is a critical issue, hitting close
to home for many as it ofteninvolves trusted individuals, including family members.
Today, we're honored to have SpecialAgent Janette Harper from the El Paso Field
(00:43):
Office of the FBI. After herinsights, I urge you to tune into
our first show on elder abuse featuringSpecial Agent Terrence Guess. You'll find a
link in the comments section below.Let's raise awareness and work towards protecting our
seniors from financial exploitation and abuse.So, good morning, thank you for
having me today, Manica to seeyou again on our monthly chat as.
(01:07):
I don't know if you all know, but recently, every year the FBI
pushes out an Elder Fraud Report.So just last week we released the twenty
twenty three Elder Fraud, a reportthat gives a nationwide perspective of what's been
going on with individuals over the ageof sixty. So that that report is
(01:30):
live and you can see that onthe FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at www
dot i C three dot gov andyou can and it breaks it down to
the state level. But of coursein our conversation today we'll talk a little
bit about localized so what we're seeingin All Passo too. So yes,
that's a problem here, even thoughit's a problem across the nation as well.
(01:55):
But from the twenty twenty three reportto twenty twenty two, sorry to
the twenty twenty three, we receivedover one hundred thousand complaints nationwine from individuals
over the age sixty that had fallenvictim to some sort of broad scam.
(02:20):
So there was a total loss ofabout three point four billion dollars. That's
with a B billion dollars and it'sjust going to keep getting higher. We
saw an eleven percent increase from overlast year, and it's really interesting to
look at the statistics that the countryin the United States is the number one
country that falls victim that has thehighest ranking monetarily of any of the other
(02:43):
countries across the world that fall victimto these sorts of scams. And I
think it's partly because a lot ofindividuals know that we are very financially driven.
A lot of people have really niceor try to have a retirement money
saved so they can live the yearsafter they retired from the workforce. So
they kind of know that the UnitedStates nation, individuals in our nation or
(03:07):
retired community is trying to be establishedfinancially to live longer years. What we
saw is each individual when they sentin their complaint, the average monetary loss
for them was about thirty three thousanddollars. That's a lot many individuals that's
their whole salary or their whole income, especially if they're on a designated income
(03:27):
from Social Security or disability or somekind of pension. So you can imagine
that those individuals it was a veryhard lesson to learn. And just remember
some individuals are so embarrassed or ashamedthat they fell victim so easily, that
they trusted someone and then they weretaken victim of. So we see a
(03:49):
lot of people that have not reported, So these are just the individuals that
have reported the loss. Individuals thatwe saw that lost over one hundred thousand
dollars. I can't even imagine thatamount having to losing that money. We
saw almost six thousand people across theUnited States that lost that amount of money
in just one scam. So thescams that we're seeing the most in twenty
(04:13):
twenty three, of course, we'vetalked about as the confidence romance scams.
We know we have a lot ofretired individuals that are lonely and they just
meet these individuals online and they believethat they have fallen in love and they
get trapped into money laundering as wellas investment frauds. So that and that
(04:33):
Believe it or Not is the thirdhighest scam. The number one scam that
we saw in twenty twenty three istech support. How many of us receive
those emails saying that your anti virussubscription is expired, so please click on
the link or you'll get a phonenumber, or you'll get a fake best
buy geek squad. So a lotof individuals are falling victim to Tech Support.
(04:57):
And of that, the nationwide scamof over seventeen thousand people. We
saw a fell victim to that specificscam. Of course, everybody is a
victim to this, but it's thepersonal data breach. How many insurance companies
are we seeing that are being hitleaked our personal information? And I said
the confidence romance scams. And thenof course the big one is the payment
(05:21):
of non delivery. So you seean ad on social media or on TV,
or somebody calls you, or seeindividuals that come to your door and
try to sell you solar panels orwhatever they're trying to sell you, there's
a non delivery, so you've paidfor it, but you never get the
item, or the item that youreceived is not what you paid for.
So that is like the fourth andthe last one is investment scams, and
(05:44):
this one is the one that's growinga lot of individuals. We've seen the
younger individuals are playing, they're dabblingin cryptocurrency. I don't really understand it
myself, but so we're seeing alot of scammers trying to get individuals to
either invest in cryptocurrency see or paytraditional scams with cryptocurrency. So they're having
you go to these ATMs. ATMsthat convert real money into cryptocurrency and then
(06:11):
you're supposed to send it off somewhere. So those are the five biggest scams
that we saw rise of this intwenty twenty three. So now let's look
at it and kind of break itdown to what has happened, and I'll
passo. So really, yes,we have victims here, Yes we have
individuals that are the scammers. Yes, a lot of the individuals that are
(06:31):
the scammers are outside of the UnitedStates. That's just a common theme that
we see across the board with anyof our age brackets, but we're seeing
that they're targeting in a lot ofour retirement community. So here in I'll
passo alone, from January first ofthis year to just yesterday May second,
(06:53):
we have over one hundred and nineteenvictims that have reported some sort of loss,
and that loss right now is tofourteen and a half million dollars,
that's what they reported that they've lost. So it happens here. And I
know I've given you statistics for thisyear, but it's the most current for
the first four months of our yearin twenty twenty four. So you can
(07:14):
just see that the pace that we'regoing at we're probably going to still have
see another increase in the twenty twentyfour numbers of towards elder fraud. So
if you guys are very interested inseeing the elder fraud report, please go
to IC three dot gov right andthen you can look under consumer reports and
then there's a section that says annualreports and it's there so you can see
(07:34):
a complete breakdown for nationwide, andthen you can also see the breakdown for
all the different states. So I'veseen just for the state of Texas,
over sixty there was over seven thousandvictims in the state of Texas alone with
loss of two hundred and seventy eightmillion dollars. So that's the entire state
for Texas. So you can breakit down and look how other states fall.
(07:57):
Texas is the third largest state.We have California, I believe is
number one, then I can't rememberthis second one, and then we have
Texas. So we're usually number twoor number three each year when it comes
to monetary loss for victims. Soif you do feel like you have had
been a victim, please even ifyou're ashamed or embarrassed that you lost money,
(08:20):
think of think of trying to protectother individuals from falling victim to those
same crimes. So what we usethe IC three tips for is to be
able to put a package together,work with our foreign counterparts to go after
the individuals along the Ivory Coast inNigeria, let's say, to target those
individuals and bring them to justice andtry to get money back for the victims.
(08:46):
So if you feel if you havebeen a victim or know of someone
that's been a victim, please reachout to the FBI. You can call
our office directly at nine one fiveeight three two five thousand. We're open
twenty four to seven. You canall and speak to an individual here and
we can take your report, oryou can go to ICE three dot gov
(09:07):
and file your Internet crime complaint there. If you have an elderly parent or
you're a caregiver for someone that's anearly individual, if all of a sudden
they're becoming more withdrawn, they're makingwithdraws from their accounts that you're not sure
of. We've seen a lot ofindividuals, we've seen a lot of family
members not really involved with those elderly. So we're trying to reach out to
(09:31):
the banks. Sometimes we'll have banktellers prevent someone or you'll have a random
stranger behind kind of paying attention towhat's going on with that eaterly individual and
may have prevented them sending or wiringmoney to these scammers. So just stay
in touch with your grandparents, yourmom, your dad, whoever, your
aunt's uncles, and just make surethat they haven't many new friends or they're
(09:54):
trying to invest in something like theyshould always talk to you and un out
buy you don't come across you knowas judgment, I know it's harder for
our parents or our grandparents that you'reyounger, like I know better, why
are you telling me what to do? But just keep an eye on them
just to prevent them from falling victimand losing a lifelong savings for their retirement.
(10:15):
So if you have questions, pleasego to our IC three account.
Our FBI dot gov has tips undercommon scams on elder fraud. We have
a lot of resources and then aswell as our DOJ elder fraud initiatives,
you can go to the Department ofJustice and take a look at what they
have. So if you've been victims, what kind of victim resources you can
(10:35):
get? If you or someone elseyou know is falling victim to one of
these scams.
Welcome to another episode of First Fridayswith the FBI. Today is focused on
the alarming rides of elder fraud andabuse in El Paso. As reported by
the FBI. From January first,twenty twenty four, to yesterday, May
second, a staggering one hundred nineteenvictims have reported losses totaling fourteen and a
(00:22):
half million dollars. These numbers painta distressing picture of exploitation and vulnerability among
our senior population. Elder fraud andabuse is a critical issue, hitting close
to home for many as it ofteninvolves trusted individuals, including family members.
Today, we're honored to have SpecialAgent Janette Harper from the El Paso Field
(00:43):
Office of the FBI. After herinsights, I urge you to tune into
our first show on elder abuse featuringSpecial Agent Terrence Guess. You'll find a
link in the comments section below.Let's raise awareness and work towards protecting our
seniors from financial exploitation and abuse.So, good morning, thank you for
having me today, Manica to seeyou again on our monthly chat as.
(01:07):
I don't know if you all know, but recently, every year the FBI
pushes out an Elder Fraud Report.So just last week we released the twenty
twenty three Elder Fraud, a reportthat gives a nationwide perspective of what's been
going on with individuals over the ageof sixty. So that that report is
(01:30):
live and you can see that onthe FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at www
dot i C three dot gov andyou can and it breaks it down to
the state level. But of coursein our conversation today we'll talk a little
bit about localized so what we're seeingin All Passo too. So yes,
that's a problem here, even thoughit's a problem across the nation as well.
(01:55):
But from the twenty twenty three reportto twenty twenty two, sorry to
the twenty twenty three, we receivedover one hundred thousand complaints nationwine from individuals
over the age sixty that had fallenvictim to some sort of broad scam.
(02:20):
So there was a total loss ofabout three point four billion dollars. That's
with a B billion dollars and it'sjust going to keep getting higher. We
saw an eleven percent increase from overlast year, and it's really interesting to
look at the statistics that the countryin the United States is the number one
country that falls victim that has thehighest ranking monetarily of any of the other
(02:43):
countries across the world that fall victimto these sorts of scams. And I
think it's partly because a lot ofindividuals know that we are very financially driven.
A lot of people have really niceor try to have a retirement money
saved so they can live the yearsafter they retired from the workforce. So
they kind of know that the UnitedStates nation, individuals in our nation or
(03:07):
retired community is trying to be establishedfinancially to live longer years. What we
saw is each individual when they sentin their complaint, the average monetary loss
for them was about thirty three thousanddollars. That's a lot many individuals that's
their whole salary or their whole income, especially if they're on a designated income
(03:27):
from Social Security or disability or somekind of pension. So you can imagine
that those individuals it was a veryhard lesson to learn. And just remember
some individuals are so embarrassed or ashamedthat they fell victim so easily, that
they trusted someone and then they weretaken victim of. So we see a
(03:49):
lot of people that have not reported, So these are just the individuals that
have reported the loss. Individuals thatwe saw that lost over one hundred thousand
dollars. I can't even imagine thatamount having to losing that money. We
saw almost six thousand people across theUnited States that lost that amount of money
in just one scam. So thescams that we're seeing the most in twenty
(04:13):
twenty three, of course, we'vetalked about as the confidence romance scams.
We know we have a lot ofretired individuals that are lonely and they just
meet these individuals online and they believethat they have fallen in love and they
get trapped into money laundering as wellas investment frauds. So that and that
(04:33):
Believe it or Not is the thirdhighest scam. The number one scam that
we saw in twenty twenty three istech support. How many of us receive
those emails saying that your anti virussubscription is expired, so please click on
the link or you'll get a phonenumber, or you'll get a fake best
buy geek squad. So a lotof individuals are falling victim to Tech Support.
(04:57):
And of that, the nationwide scamof over seventeen thousand people. We
saw a fell victim to that specificscam. Of course, everybody is a
victim to this, but it's thepersonal data breach. How many insurance companies
are we seeing that are being hitleaked our personal information? And I said
the confidence romance scams. And thenof course the big one is the payment
(05:21):
of non delivery. So you seean ad on social media or on TV,
or somebody calls you, or seeindividuals that come to your door and
try to sell you solar panels orwhatever they're trying to sell you, there's
a non delivery, so you've paidfor it, but you never get the
item, or the item that youreceived is not what you paid for.
So that is like the fourth andthe last one is investment scams, and
(05:44):
this one is the one that's growinga lot of individuals. We've seen the
younger individuals are playing, they're dabblingin cryptocurrency. I don't really understand it
myself, but so we're seeing alot of scammers trying to get individuals to
either invest in cryptocurrency see or paytraditional scams with cryptocurrency. So they're having
you go to these ATMs. ATMsthat convert real money into cryptocurrency and then
(06:11):
you're supposed to send it off somewhere. So those are the five biggest scams
that we saw rise of this intwenty twenty three. So now let's look
at it and kind of break itdown to what has happened, and I'll
passo. So really, yes,we have victims here, Yes we have
individuals that are the scammers. Yes, a lot of the individuals that are
(06:31):
the scammers are outside of the UnitedStates. That's just a common theme that
we see across the board with anyof our age brackets, but we're seeing
that they're targeting in a lot ofour retirement community. So here in I'll
passo alone, from January first ofthis year to just yesterday May second,
(06:53):
we have over one hundred and nineteenvictims that have reported some sort of loss,
and that loss right now is tofourteen and a half million dollars,
that's what they reported that they've lost. So it happens here. And I
know I've given you statistics for thisyear, but it's the most current for
the first four months of our yearin twenty twenty four. So you can
(07:14):
just see that the pace that we'regoing at we're probably going to still have
see another increase in the twenty twentyfour numbers of towards elder fraud. So
if you guys are very interested inseeing the elder fraud report, please go
to IC three dot gov right andthen you can look under consumer reports and
then there's a section that says annualreports and it's there so you can see
(07:34):
a complete breakdown for nationwide, andthen you can also see the breakdown for
all the different states. So I'veseen just for the state of Texas,
over sixty there was over seven thousandvictims in the state of Texas alone with
loss of two hundred and seventy eightmillion dollars. So that's the entire state
for Texas. So you can breakit down and look how other states fall.
(07:57):
Texas is the third largest state.We have California, I believe is
number one, then I can't rememberthis second one, and then we have
Texas. So we're usually number twoor number three each year when it comes
to monetary loss for victims. Soif you do feel like you have had
been a victim, please even ifyou're ashamed or embarrassed that you lost money,
(08:20):
think of think of trying to protectother individuals from falling victim to those
same crimes. So what we usethe IC three tips for is to be
able to put a package together,work with our foreign counterparts to go after
the individuals along the Ivory Coast inNigeria, let's say, to target those
individuals and bring them to justice andtry to get money back for the victims.
(08:46):
So if you feel if you havebeen a victim or know of someone
that's been a victim, please reachout to the FBI. You can call
our office directly at nine one fiveeight three two five thousand. We're open
twenty four to seven. You canall and speak to an individual here and
we can take your report, oryou can go to ICE three dot gov
(09:07):
and file your Internet crime complaint there. If you have an elderly parent or
you're a caregiver for someone that's anearly individual, if all of a sudden
they're becoming more withdrawn, they're makingwithdraws from their accounts that you're not sure
of. We've seen a lot ofindividuals, we've seen a lot of family
members not really involved with those elderly. So we're trying to reach out to
(09:31):
the banks. Sometimes we'll have banktellers prevent someone or you'll have a random
stranger behind kind of paying attention towhat's going on with that eaterly individual and
may have prevented them sending or wiringmoney to these scammers. So just stay
in touch with your grandparents, yourmom, your dad, whoever, your
aunt's uncles, and just make surethat they haven't many new friends or they're
(09:54):
trying to invest in something like theyshould always talk to you and un out
buy you don't come across you knowas judgment, I know it's harder for
our parents or our grandparents that you'reyounger, like I know better, why
are you telling me what to do? But just keep an eye on them
just to prevent them from falling victimand losing a lifelong savings for their retirement.
(10:15):
So if you have questions, pleasego to our IC three account.
Our FBI dot gov has tips undercommon scams on elder fraud. We have
a lot of resources and then aswell as our DOJ elder fraud initiatives,
you can go to the Department ofJustice and take a look at what they
have. So if you've been victims, what kind of victim resources you can
(10:35):
get? If you or someone elseyou know is falling victim to one of
these scams.
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