Elderly Scam Alert - Senior Fraud Prevention
8 people from the Salt Lake City area are accused of scamming millions from elderly widows in what some call a “dating scam.”
KUTV reports that “Federal prosecutors have charged eight people in Utah with fraud and money laundering for what they argue was a scheme to steal funds from elderly widows.”
“According to the indictment the seven accused live in Salt Lake and Utah Counties, along with a woman from West Valley City. The perpetrators used fake social media profiles to befriend the victims. They would pretend to be businessmen or military generals and purport romantic interests in the victims before asking them for money, the indictment alleges.
In one case, a 75-year-old woman claims she was contacted online by a businessman living in Germany who convinced her to invest money in an industrial pipe project in Turkey. The victim sent ten checks totaling $275,000 and five wire transfers totaling $81,000 to the defendants, according to the indictment. The alleged fraud occurred over two years and netted $6 million, according to charging documents.” To read more about the recent Utah fraud conviction click here: https://kjzz.com/news/local/8-utahns-accused-of-scamming-millions-from-elderly-widows
Dating Scams against seniors have been increasing as phony suitors seek out elderly targets on social media. AARP reports “The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received more than 21,300 reports of romance scams in 2018, up 250 percent from three years earlier. Reported losses totaled $143 million, the most for any type of consumer fraud. The older the victim, the heavier the financial toll, according to the FTC — the median individual loss for people aged 70 and over was $10,000, compared to $2,600 for all victims.”
Warning Signs of an Online Scam:
- Your new romantic interest or Facebook Friend sends you a picture that looks more like a model from a fashion magazine than an ordinary snapshot.
- The person quickly wants to leave the website where you met them and communicate with you through email or instant messaging.
- He or she lavishes you with attention. Swindlers often inundate prospective marks with texts, emails and phone calls to draw them in.
- He or she repeatedly promises to meet you in person but always seems to come up with an excuse to cancel.
The best advice is to never send cash or reloadable gift card to someone you've chatted with only online because you will not get it back.
Resources:
- Report a suspected online romance scam to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and the FTC.
- The U.S. Army has a detailed fact sheet on spotting scammers posing as American soldiers posted abroad.
- READ MORE about Internet Scams on the Elderly and Senior Fraud Prevention and s and How to Avoid Them
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https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/romance.html?CMP=KNC-DSO-Adobe-Google-FRD-Generic-Scams-Dating-Scam&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIkMGQ7sPl5AIVFb3sCh1nMAB8EAAYAiAAEgK-DfD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!4520!3!275695377314!b!!g!!%2Bdating%20%2Bscammers