House Bill Aims to Protect the Elderly Against Ongoing Fraud Attempts

Stan & Nancy Salisbury

For weeks now, a 60-year-old woman has felt the pressure of an increasingly aggressive “IRS officer” calling to demand owed money.

These supposed back taxes are not the first time Valerie Sicher has been targeted by con artists looking for her financial information.

“I’ve never been scammed because I’ve been aware of it,” said Sicher, a retired member of a Miami credit union board of directors.

The calls have been reported to the IRS, but representatives told Sicher that the calls are untraceable from her work phone.

On Oct. 1, Florida house bill 409 passed, which allowed prosecutors more leeway in convicting criminals who exploit the elderly, but only one in seven exploitation cases are making it to prosecution, said Shannon Miller, ESQ., of the Miller Elder Law Firm.

Out of 45 thousand cases, exploitation victims make up for 15.86 percent of the total investigations, according to the 2013-2014 data collected by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs.

“These are often deep family matters; they can involve all kinds of risks and liabilities,” said Nancy Salisbury, a retired public health official and minister. “Victims fear embarrassment and emotional distress along with the risks of personal safety.”

An extra $5 million to add to a retirement plan may have sounded irresistible to some, but “risk-free” money never seems to work out that way.

Stan and Nancy Salisbury, elderly retirees of Gainesville, received a first-class letter last August that offered the split of a hefty inheritance of their unknown relative James Salisbury.

“All the numbers, companies and addresses check out,” Stan said. “But there’s definitely no Jameses on my side of the family.”

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House Bill Aims to Protect the Elderly Against Ongoing Fraud Attempts