'Don't talk to strangers.' Top scams on seniors for 2023 and how to defend yourself

PLAIN TWP. ‒ Almost a century ago, the likes of Bonnie & Clyde and John Dillinger robbed banks, then made getaways by driving to the nearest state border.

But these days?

"You could be in your mother's basement and rob a bank in all 50 states," said Brian McDonough, an assistant U.S. attorney and elder justice coordinator for the Northern District of Ohio.

Evolving computer technology continuously breeds new criminal scams. Almost like a soup of the day, he told a group of about 135 people gathered at First Christian Church on Friday morning.

From 2017 through 2021, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center received 2.76 million complaints, which amounted to $18.7 billion in financial loss to victims.

And many scams target seniors.

McDonough was a featured speaker at the 12th annual "Justice for All: Protecting the Elderly & Disabled Seminar," hosted by Stark County Probate Court and Judge Dixie Park, along with the Stark Multidisciplinary Advocacy and Protective Resources Team.

He told stories about cases he's handled in the state's 40 northern counties; how his own father fell for scams; even how William H. Webster — who was a former federal judge, past director of the FBI and one-time CIA director — was targeted.

"If he can be a target, ... anyone can," McDonough said.

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Phishing, vishing, smishing and pharming

His more than 90-minute "Fighting Back Against Elder Fraud: Top Scams for 2023" presentation explained a variety of scams, and offered tips on how to avoid becoming a victim.

The top-five frauds for this year, in order, fall within these general schemes: Business email compromise, romance scams, cryptocurrency, ransomware and tech support.

McDonough estimated that 70% of scams are initiated from outside the U.S. Criminals often try to mine personal data by phishing (through email), vishing (phone or VoIP), smishing (text messaging) and pharming (hacks of your computer).

"And they're very good at it," he said.

Criminals can easily make victims believe they are getting emails from their bank, or phone calls from hospitals or law enforcement, McDonough said. Seniors, he explained, are targeted because they tend to answer phone calls more than younger generations, and most importantly, they're more likely to have money to steal.

"Don't talk to strangers," he advised.

If it's important, the caller will leave a voice message.

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Reporting crimes can help catch criminals

McDonough has seen cases where wealthy seniors have lost $1 million and poor seniors have lost half their monthly income. He's witnessed everything from sextortion and lottery fraud to a church member who thought she was sending gift cards to her church pastor, so they could be used to help the poor.

"If anyone says pay with a gift card, that's a scam," he warned.

New twists on old scams will continue to make them even more convincing, McDonough warned.

For example, there's one where grandparents have been duped into handing over thousands of dollars, based on a phone call plea that one of their grandchildren has been arrested after an auto accident and needs bonded from jail.

"Now, with (artificial intelligence) ... that scam can (get really effective)," he said, describing how a teen's social media clips can be harvested by a criminal to create an entire vocabulary — in the teen's voice.

Sometimes, the best advice is to remain calm.

"Slow down and verify," McDonough said.

And one newer scam, which, he said, could wake him up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, is SIM swapping.

After gathering key personal information, the criminal contacts your cellphone carrier and gets them to switch your phone number to another SIM card, placed in the scammer's phone. It enables them to trample through the two-factor authentication many institutions now use, to access your money and even more data.

Too many victims, he said, are ashamed and embarrassed, so they never report being scammed. However, reporting and sharing information is key to catching scammers, he added.

Victims, McDonough said, don't have to sort out if it's a local, state or federal scam. He said they may simply call the National Elder Fraud hotline at 1-833-372-8311.

That's 1-833-FRAUD-11.

Reach Tim at 330-580-8333 ortim.botos@cantonrep.com.On Twitter: @tbotosREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian McDonough breaks down top scams of 2023