Elderly fraud increasing in Oregon

by Jeremy C. Ruark

This infographic shows how many complaints the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received about different types of elder fraud in 2023. (Image courtesy of the FBI)

Internet scams targeting elderly Oregonians are increasing. The latest Federal Bureau of investigation report shows that segment of the population lost $44 million to the scammers in 2023.

FBI Report

Elder fraud complaints to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (or IC3) increased by 14 percent in 2023, and associated losses increased by about 11 percent, according to IC3’s 2023 Elder Fraud Report, released April 30.  

The annual publication provides statistics about incidents of elder fraud — or fraud that explicitly targets older Americans’ money or cryptocurrency — that are reported to IC3. The report aims to raise the public’s awareness of this issue and to prevent future and repeat incidents.

“Combatting the financial exploitation of those over 60 years of age continues to be a priority of the FBI,” FBI Assistant Director Michael D. Nordwall wrote in the report. “Along with our partners, we continually work to aid victims and to identify and investigate the individuals and criminal organizations that perpetrate these schemes and target the elderly.” 

And elder fraud is probably a more insidious threat than the report shows. Many of these crimes likely go unreported, and, as the report states, only about half of the fraud scam complaints submitted to IC3 in 2023 included victims’ ages.

Here are five key takeaways from the 2023 report:

1) Elder fraud is an expensive crime. Scams targeting individuals aged 60 and older caused over $3.4 billion in losses in 2023 — an increase of approximately 11 percent from the year prior. The average victim of elder fraud lost $33,915 due to these crimes in 2023. 

2) Older Americans seem to be disproportionately impacted by scams and fraud. More than 101,000 victims aged 60 and over reported this kind of crime to IC3 in 2023. On the flip side, victims under the age of 20 years old seemed to be the least-impacted demographic, with about 18,000 victims in this demographic reporting suspected scams or frauds to IC3 last year. 

3) Tech support scams were the most widely reported kind of elder fraud in 2023. Nearly 18,000 victims aged 60 and over reported such scams to IC3. Personal data breaches, confidence and romance scams, non-payment or non-delivery scams, and investment scams rounded out the top five most common types of elder fraud reported to IC3 last year.  

4) Investment scams were the costliest kind of elder fraud in 2023. These schemes cost victims more than $1.2 billion in losses last year. And tech support scams, business email compromise scams, confidence and romance scams, government impersonation scams, and personal data breaches all respectively cost victims hundreds of millions of dollars in 2023. 

5) Scammers are coming for people’s cryptocurrency. More than 12,000 victims aged 60 and over indicated that cryptocurrency was a medium or tool used to facilitate the scam or fraud that targeted them when reporting it to IC3. 

Local impact

The Lincoln County Leader reached out to Lincoln City Police Sgt. Erik Anderson to find out the local impact of elderly fraud.

The Leader: What have been the most significant elderly fraud cases seen by your agency over the past few years?

Erik Anderson: So we have seen quite a few over the last couple years unfortunately. Many of these come to our attention through our strong partnership with Adult Protective Services, and many others are brought to us by the victims themselves. One of the more heinous cases we have seen with elder fraud locally includes a case in which a couple defrauded a senior citizen out of their entire home. That case is still being adjudicated. Many of our other cases involve the thefts of large sums of retirement savings through online scams and identity theft.

The Leader: Why are the elderly targeted?

Anderson: The elderly are often targeted for several reasons. Out of all of us, elderly folks tend to have more savings, although in our area we have plenty of seniors living on very fixed incomes. Unfortunately, professional scammers around the world don’t really care about the livelihood of their victims. 

Senior citizens are also more likely to have had personal identity information leaked online through decades of breaches in government organizations, health care agencies, financial records holders and so on. Senior citizens tend to have lower levels of digital literacy than younger generations and in many cases don’t realize they have been victimized until long after the fact.

Romance scams, in which people pretend to fall for an unsuspecting victim met online and request money be sent for prolonged periods, are very common. Elders are often targeted by these scams as many live alone, and the chance at a strong emotional connection is enticing.

Elderly folks are also significantly more likely than others to suffer from conditions affecting their memory, and in some of the most heartbreaking cases, don’t even recognize that they have been victimized. In Oregon, crimes against seniors carry additional penalties under ORS 164.061, which mandates 16 to 45 months of incarceration if certain conditions are met.   

The Leader: Is it difficult to find and arrest the suspects involved, and if so, why?

Anderson: Bringing suspects to justice is often difficult in many of these cases. Memory issues hinder the ability to recall key details of crimes. In some of our fraud cases, suspects have had victims sign over power of attorney in less than scrupulous methods. In these cases, Oregon laws related to criminal mistreatment come into play but are often hard to prove. As far as online fraud goes, these criminals are often never brought to justice as most reside in other countries, which turn a blind eye or even promote the nefarious activity.

The Leader: What recommendations can the LCDP provide to help keep local senior citizens aware of the fraud dangers?

Anderson: I think all people are well served by the early life lesson of stranger danger. Be cautious when contacted by unsolicited marketers or friendly text messages from strangers bearing the gift of wonderful investment opportunities.

I recently looked through a great resource from AARP. They have a whole portal outlining different kinds of scams: www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud This is a great read for seniors and their families who worry about them. Another resource for elderly citizens who have been victimized is to contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov). This is the FBI’s portal for taking complaints about cyber crime and scams. They aggregate complaints to target the worst actors. If they recover or seize funds that they can attribute to specific individuals, they work with local law enforcement to return the funds.

Lastly, the protection of our most vulnerable populations, like senior citizens and children, are an important part of our mission at the Lincoln City Police Department. We strive to achieve justice when possible on these cases. We aim to do our best and hope when we are in their position, future Oregonians will look out for us.

If you or someone you know may have been a victim of elder fraud, contact your local FBI field office or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. If the suspected fraud was internet-facilitated, you can also file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.

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Elderly fraud increasing in Oregon