Justice Department Announces Elder Fraud Sweep

On March 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") announced the largest U.S. elder fraud sweep in a detailed press release entitled, Justice Department Coordinates Largest-Ever Nationwide Elder Fraud Sweep. A related press release from the U.S. Attorney General, entitled, Attorney General Focuses on Threats Posed by Technical-Support Fraud offers a look at the staggering extent of elder fraud:

The cases during this sweep involved more than 260 defendants from around the globe who victimized more than two million Americans, most of them elderly.  DOJ took action in every federal district across the country, through the filing of criminal or civil cases or through consumer education efforts. In each case, offenders allegedly engaged in financial schemes that targeted or largely affected seniors. In total, the charged elder fraud schemes caused alleged losses of millions of more dollars than last year, putting the total alleged losses at this year’s sweep at over three fourths of one billion dollars.

If you are interested, you can review the state-by-state results of the sweep, here.   The sweep included cases filed against perpetrators of tech support fraud, mass mailing fraud, and  money mules. Although there were no cases filed in Ohio or Illinois, there were cases file in the State of Missouri.  There are  consumer education efforts dedicated to both Ohio and Illinois:

[DOJ] and its law enforcement partners focused the sweep’s public education campaign on technical-support fraud, given the widespread harm such schemes are causing. The FTC and State Attorneys General had an important role in designing and disseminating messaging material intended to warn consumers and businesses.

Public education outreach is being conducted by various state and federal agencies, including Senior Corps, a national service program administered by the federal agency the Corporation for National and Community Service, to educate seniors and prevent further victimization. The Senior Corps program engages more than 245,000 older adults in intensive service each year, who in turn, serve more than 840,000 additional seniors, including 332,000 veterans. Information on Senior Corps’ efforts to reduce elder fraud can be found here.

Elder fraud complaints may be filed with the FTC at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or at 877-FTC-HELP. The Department of Justice provides a variety of resources relating to elder fraud victimization through its Office of Victims of Crime, which can be reached at www.ovc.gov.