By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Scams and fraud are a major problem in the United States that often go unreported and can be tough to prosecute because they are viewed as “low risk” crimes. According to a new finding by AAPR, 2.5 million scams were reported 2022 that account for over $9 billion is losses.
“We are talking about 9 billion dollars in losses and 2.5 million reports,” says Kathy Stokes, Director of Fraud Prevention Programs, AARP.
“Scammers are criminals,” continued Stokes. “We have lost that thread in our society that fraud is a crime, and AARP is leading the way and trying to help people understand that it’s not the victim’s fault. These are criminal, largely transnational criminal enterprises behind this stuff.”
According to legal experts, fraudsters and con artists tend to go after older adults because they believe they have plenty of money in the bank. But it’s not just wealthy older Americans who are targeted. Older adults and African American seniors with low income are also at risk for fraud. The impact of these scams can be devastating to many older adults and can leave them in a vulnerable position, with limited ability to recover their losses.
In the Black community, seven in 10 Black adults think scams and fraud have hit a crisis level, and 85% of Black adults think scam victims should report the crime to law enforcement.
Through legal remedies such as restitution, the court systems possess the discretion as to how fraudulent conduct and its consequences should be addressed.
“It’s up to the discretion of the court to how egregious they think the behavior was, the conduct was and what monetary penalties might apply,” says Laura Clinton, Assistant Attorney General for Consumer Protection Division of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. “We can also get restitution for people who have been victimized by a scam, like a pyramid scheme, we can get the court to order the defendant to give back all the money they stole to the people from whom they took it. So, those are pretty powerful remedies even though they don’t involve criminal sanctions.”
As scams are on the rise due to populations becoming more and more dependent on internet consumerism, AARP believes that we as a society are at crisis levels and the messaging needs a divergence to fully address just how serious and costly fraud is on the communities, especially under-represented communities.
“We know this is just the tip of the iceberg,” says Stokes. “We are at a crisis level, and we really all need to be talking about it like that.”
“The emotional impact that fraud brings with it can be devastating as well,” continued Stokes. “Although it is very much a financial challenge,fraud victims report a significant health or emotional impacts as well.”
One of the most popular scam tactics used today involves the scammer creating a sense of urgency in an effort to get the victim to pay for something right away. According to Clinton there are four things one should pay attention to in order to identify possible scams or fraud – contacts that you’re not expecting, things that are too good to be true, a real sense of urgency and rush that you have to respond right now or you’re going to lose this opportunity and transactions over the phone that you did not initiate.
Stokes says that part of the problem is there is a lack of information and outreach, especially to communities of color.
“There’s a lagging awareness in the Black community,” says Stokes. “And you see it in the demographics of those 50 and over so much more than younger adults. Maybe that suggests that there’s more fraud happening, and they are aware it’s a problem, but clearly, we are not getting the information out.”
“Why scams are so successful,” Stokes asks. “It’s not because people are stupid. It’s not because people are old and not tech savvy, there’s a lot of age notions around fraud. It’s because the criminals are good at what they do.”
