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Quick Overview

• The Inaugural Elder Abuse Awareness Month

• The 2023 FBI Elder Fraud Report

The Inaugural Elder Abuse Awareness Month

This week, I had the opportunity to speak with multiple elders who have been victims of scams.

What struck me was their courage. These victims have suffered not only financial losses, but also psychological trauma and anguish. Yet, they continue to speak about these scams to help others.

“This would never happen to me” is what I hear most from people when I speak about scams. The truth is - it hasn’t happened to you yet. Every day, global criminal organizations are working on social engineering scripts to emotionally hook you and transfer your money to their bank accounts. Here’s a clip from scam victim and former FBI Director Webster.

As the inaugural Elder Abuse Awareness Month draws to a close, take the time to educate your loved ones about scam awareness and reporting.

Stay safe out there,

The 2023 FBI Elder Fraud Report

Every year, the Internet Crime Center (IC3) releases a report on different areas of fraud and scams reported. Run by the FBI, the IC3 is a critical agency in publicizing the size of these scams.

Since 2000, the IC3 has received over 8,000,000 reports from scam victims. Every year, the number grows. Sadly, less than 14% of victims report the crime. Most local authorities won’t even pursue the crime because they believe the victim willingly gave the money away or that the criminal is overseas. The reality is that we need victims to speak up to help drive more attention to these crimes and to help victims get the support they deserve.

In 2023, over 101,000 victims reported losing over $3.4 Billion to scammers. Tech Support and Government Impersonation were the two leading types of scams, totaling over $1.3 Billion in losses.

By states, California and Florida still lead in terms of reported losses.

The cryptocurrency component is still the largest clue that it’s a scam.

As you can see, investment opportunities related to Crypto dwarfs all other scams.

Again, these are only the reported scams. What needs to happen more is reporting these scams. Local authorities might not be able to help, but the IC3 is a quick and easy way to document the crime. To report a scam, go to IC3.gov.