The FBI says thieves stole more than $580 million from elderly citizens last year from Tech and Customer Support schemes, which were the most common type of fraud reported with 17,8000 complaints filed in 2022.
The FBI is warning the public about a nationwide uptick in the multi-million dollar 'Phantom Hacker' scam that's targeting the elderly.
The FBI says thieves stole more than $580 million from elderly citizens last year from Tech and Customer Support schemes, which were the most common type of fraud reported with 17,8000 complaints filed in 2022.Investigators say the scheme starts with a call, text, email or pop-up window on your computer and asks a person to click on a link to download software to fix an alleged tech issue. The FBI says don’t fall for those lies, especially if the other person is prompting you about the problem.
Danny Hernandez is the Executive Director at Brookdale Senior Living in Memorial City. He's has worked with the elderly community for nearly 30 years and says he's seen multiple seniors fall victim to similar scams, including his own family. "I believe a lot of times it’s because they’re lonely. And when somebody calls them and going to be nice, asking them about their day, how things are going, I think it causes them to let their guard down," Hernandez said.
"Make sure that they never give money or personal information to anyone that they don’t know or calls that they never initiated, because that’s what they’re going after; they’re going after your money and once we give them access to that money, your financial institutions, it’s in their hands and it’s very hard to get back," said Christina Garza, a Public Affairs Officer with the FBI Houston Field Office.
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