America’s grandparents are increasingly online. They’re connecting with relatives digitally, shopping in the web’s endless aisles, and even finding online love in their golden years.
However, with that wifi connection comes a darker side. Specifically, the danger of scams targeting the elderly population and their substantial life savings.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has raised the flag on the precipitous rise in elder fraud scams in recent years. According to their 2021 Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) report, there were over 92,000 victims who lost $1.7 billion to elder fraud scams. The losses were a 74 percent increase over 2020’s.
“Elder fraud is simply financial fraud that targets any individual, any citizen in the United States over the age of 60 years old,” FBI Deputy Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigation Division Aaron Tapp told Fox News. “… It could be romance based. It could be technology based. But any type of fraud scheme that’s targeting our elderly population.”
Tapp said the technological divide that separates sexagenarians from younger generations is at the heart of the rise in elder fraud. Scammers key in on individuals who are not digitally savvy to bilk them out of thousands of dollars.
SENIORS LIVING ON THE STREETS: RISING RENTS, INFLATION PUSH MORE ELDERLY PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR HOMES
“The technology is just a modality for these scammers to commit fraud,” he said. “And so as the technology develops, they’ll…