FBI says Americans over age 60 lost $3.4 billion to scams in 2023

It makes me very sad and angry. They cannot go out and go back to work to earn all their losses again. They're old and either no one will hire them or they will hire them for the **** part-time jobs only.

Every time I hear someone talking about all the good the Internet has done, I just want to vomit. This is just one reason why.
 

This was going on long before the internet. As one of my uncles used to say, "I've got one dollar in my pocket and ten people trying to cheat me out of it."

Unfortunately, the internet has amplified the accessibility scammers have to us. We need to be hyper vigilant at all times. Answering phone calls that come from unfamiliar numbers is asking for trouble.

Thanks for the link, @VintageBetter.
 
katlupe said:
One of my neighbors lost about $2000 to the gift card scam. I couldn't believe he went out and bought the gift cards from various stores and then gave the scammer all the numbers off the cards. They told him they would fix his computer (but of course, there wasn't anything really wrong with the computer).
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I know! My daughter's land lord did that! I couldn't believe she fell for it but many do and she's been scammed before!
 
I worked with seniors and I had some tell me they'd been scammed. They felt they couldn't tell their family. They were embarrassed or worried how their kids would react. They needed to tell someone.

The worst case I knew of involved the son in law. He thought he totally vetted an investment that his father in law was involved with. He researched on the internet, was in contact, everything seemed very legit.
Well, unfortunately, that senior lost his life savings. He was a broken man. I'll never forget it. I've no idea about the son in law, if he lost too or how that relationship was after all that.
 
Some of these schemes must be somewhat sophisticated but there are others that are well publicized, such as romance scams and Nigerian money transfer scams. Unfortunately, seniors are specifically targeted in many cases.
 
Once when I installed a new hard drive in my desktop computer, one of the things I had to do was download files from Microsoft to get things up and running. I had no anti-virus installed yet.

As soon as I connected to the internet, all this ransomware descended on my computer and locked it up. It was like watching a flock of hungry birds in attack mode. Amazing there is that much crap out there floating around in cyberspace. Click here, I think not.
 
One of the scams the State Police was dealing with was cryptocurrency. It’s really very confusing alone, but when someone tries to sell it to a Senior, the person or company trying to sell it to a Senior can make it sound like the next big gold find. It can make your head spin.

One Senior told a State Police Investigator that he was all but promised a fortune for very little investment. I have heard people selling cryptocurrency on late night TV and I almost was ready to buy. When you take the time to explore the facts and the results, it can really be just a huge scheme.

Another great scheme was a person would call a Senior on the phone. They just keep calling until they hear an older person answer the phone. The phone calls are done randomly. When they get an older person on the phone they ask “Do you own a computer ir cellphone?” If the person the other end says”Yes,” they go into their spiel about selling you protection against scammers, etc. on all of your electronics. People buy into it pretty quick because these guys are good at selling you ocean front property in Arizona.

There are more, but I’m sure you gave heard a few yourself.
 
hearlady said:
I worked with seniors and I had some tell me they'd been scammed. They felt they couldn't tell their family. They were embarrassed or worried how their kids would react. They needed to tell someone.

The worst case I knew of involved the son in law. He thought he totally vetted an investment that his father in law was involved with. He researched on the internet, was in contact, everything seemed very legit.
Well, unfortunately, that senior lost his life savings. He was a broken man. I'll never forget it. I've no idea about the son in law, if he lost too or how that relationship was after all that.
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This is why many Seniors are not reaching out to members of Congress and barraging their offices with calls and letters on this topic. They are ASHAMED.

When you feel like a dumb ____ for falling for it, i't very tough to work up the moral outrage to call your local TV station and ask them to do a story on your losses.

I think parents who lose a kid to an OD of drugs are probably much the same - so much SHAME, as if they or their child was 100% to blame for the epidemic of drugs on our streets.
 
VintageBetter said:
This is why many Seniors are not reaching out to members of Congress and barraging their offices with calls and letters on this topic. They are ASHAMED.

When you feel like a dumb ____ for falling for it, i't very tough to work up the moral outrage to call your local TV station and ask them to do a story on your losses.

I think parents who lose a kid to an OD of drugs are probably much the same - so much SHAME, as if they or their child was 100% to blame for the epidemic of drugs on our streets.
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Exactly. 😔
 
The annoyance factor alone of all the scam calls I get is enough to make we want the government to use all of it's super secret surveillance technology to locate the call centers where they are coming from and wipe them out with drone strikes. :mad:
 
The landline phone rings and I answer. Some guy from India says, "Hello? Is this Judit?" I'm Judit, I guess, but no one I know calls me Judit. Down goes the receiver. Haha.
 
Trade said:
The annoyance factor alone of all the scam calls I get is enough to make we want the government to use all of it's super secret surveillance technology to locate the call centers where they are coming from and wipe them out with drone strikes. :mad:
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That would be fun. Illegal, but a party all the same.

The FBI knows exactly where at least 85% of those call centers are. The problem is that police local to the call centers (let's face it; they're in India) are either taking bribes from the call centers, or they can't raid and arrest unless an actual scam victim files a complaint in person...or, at least that's what they say. But probably true, and that's why almost all the victims are residents of the US, Europe, and UK.

For what it's worth, the FBI does have a special unit that has a website where you can report a scam.
 
Murrmurr said:
The FBI knows exactly where at least 85% of those call centers are. The problem is that police local to the call centers (let's face it; they're in India)
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And if these folks aren’t working for the call centres, then there’s a good chance they’re employed by our Tech Support when we have to call for help. I’m so sick of trying to talk to someone I can’t understand or who is making up possible answers to my problem. DH had one fellow who wanted access to his bank account. Fat chance.
 


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