By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. Justice Department’s
Attorney General William P. Barr
announced the largest coordinated
sweep of elder fraud cases in
history, surpassing last year’s
nationwide sweep. The sweep was made
in coordination with other law
enforcement partners
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. The Department 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.
Attorney General Barr was joined in
the announcement by FBI Deputy
Director David L. Bowdich; Executive
Associate
Director Derek Benner for
U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement’s Homeland Security
Investigations (HSI); Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) Chairman Joseph
Simons; Louisiana Attorney General
and President of the National
Association of Attorneys General
Jeff Landry; Director Randolph Alles
of the Secret Service; Chief Postal
Inspector Gary Barksdale; Barbara
Stewart CEO of the Corporation for
National and Community Service; and
former FBI director and CIA director
Judge Webster and Lynda Webster.
The charges are merely allegations,
and the defendants are presumed
innocent unless and until proven
guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in
a court of law.
“Crimes against the elderly target
some of the most vulnerable people
in our society,” Attorney General
William P. Barr said. “But thanks to
the hard work of our agents and
prosecutors, as well as our state
and local partners, the Department
of Justice is protecting our seniors
from fraud. The Trump administration
has placed a renewed focus on
prosecuting those who prey on the
elderly, and the results of the
sweep make that clear. We are
announcing the largest single law
enforcement action against elder
fraud in American history. This
year’s sweep involves 13 percent
more criminal defendants, 28 percent
more in losses, and twice the number
of fraud victims as last year’s
sweep. I want to thank the
Department’s Consumer Protection
Branch, which led this effort,
together with the Department’s
Criminal Division, the more than 50
U.S. Attorneys’ offices, and the
state and local partners who helped
to make these results possible.
Together, we are bringing justice
and peace of mind to America's
seniors.”
Since President Trump signed the
bipartisan Elder Abuse Prevention
and Prosecution Act (EAPPA) into
law, the Department of Justice has
participated in hundreds of
enforcement actions in criminal and
civil cases that targeted or
disproportionately affected seniors.
The Justice Department has likewise
conducted hundreds of trainings and
outreach sessions across the country
since the passage of the
Act. In February 2018, the
Attorney General announced the
largest elder fraud enforcement
action in American history at the
time, charging more than 200
defendants in a nationwide elder
fraud sweep.
In November 2018, Department of
Justice and Department of
Agriculture hosted the
first Rural and Tribal Elder
Justice Summit in Des Moines,
Iowa. The Summit focused on
supporting the efforts of elder
justice professionals to combat
elder abuse and financial
exploitation in rural and tribal
communities.
As part of the sweep, the Department
of Justice and its law enforcement
partners announced a tech-support
fraud takedown, designed to combat
an increasingly common form of elder
fraud in which criminals trick
victims into giving remote access to
their computers under the guise of
providing technical support.
In 2018, technical-support schemes
generated over 142,000 consumer
complaints to the FTC’s Consumer
Sentinel Network. Consumers 60 and
over filed more loss reports on
tech-support scams from 2015 to 2018
than on any other fraud category
reported to the Consumer Sentinel
Network.
The Department of Justice’s Consumer
Protection Branch, the Criminal
Division’s Computer Crimes and
Intellectual Property Section, and
10 U.S. Attorney’s Offices brought
cases against perpetrators of
technical-support fraud.
The FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection
Service, and HSI partnered with the
Justice Department in investigating
these cases, and the FTC, several
state Attorneys General and the
U.K.’s City of London Police joined
the effort by initiating their own
cases. A fact-sheet with
technical-support fraud case
information can be found online
here.
“We’re committed to investigating
financial fraud schemes against the
elderly,” said FBI Director
Christopher Wray. “We’ve dedicated
additional resources to address a
wide range of elder fraud threats,
including technical-support fraud.
Victims of these schemes often lose
thousands of dollars or more apiece,
which can cause significant harm to
elderly victims and their
caretakers. If anyone suspects that
they – or a senior they know – may
be a victim of fraud, we encourage
them to report it to the FBI’s
Internet Crime Complaint Center.”
“The sweep announced brings the
Postal Inspection Service to a
landmark point in its battle against
transnational criminal organizations
committing mass mailing elder
fraud,” said Chief Postal Inspector
Barksdale. “In a recently unsealed
case, two Canadians pled guilty and,
thanks to the Spanish National
Police, another was arrested in
Spain for an alleged mail fraud
scheme involving $180 million in
losses to over one million victims.
The Inspection Service has been at
the forefront of protecting
customers from fraud schemes for
many years and we will continue to
investigate and stop those who
exploit older Americans for their
own illegal gains.”
Many of the cases brought as part of
the elder fraud sweep announced
today – including many of the
technical-support fraud cases –
allegedly involved transnational
criminal organizations.
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A.M.
Costa Rica wire
services photo
During
the sweep period,
defendants in elder
fraud cases were
extradited from
Canada, the Cayman
Islands, Costa Rica,
Jamaica, and Poland.
The
Department of Justice’s
Office of International
Affairs worked with
numerous countries to
secure evidence and
capture defendants.
During the sweep period,
defendants in elder
fraud cases were
extradited from Canada,
the Cayman Islands,
Costa Rica, Jamaica, and
Poland.
A
fact-sheet with
examples of a few
elder fraud cases
involving
extradition in which
the Office of
International Affairs
played a
substantial role
can be
found online
here.
In
addition, in a novel
approach, the
Department of
Justice and its law
enforcement partners
took comprehensive
action against the
money mule network
that facilitates
foreign-based elder
fraud.
Generally, a money
mule is someone who
transfers money
acquired illegally
in person, through
the mails, or
electronically, on
behalf of others.
Across the country,
money mules receive
fraud proceeds
directly from
victims and forward
proceeds to
perpetrators and
ringleaders of fraud
schemes—individuals
who often reside in
other countries.
As part of the
sweep, the FBI and
the Postal
Inspection Service
took action against
over 600 alleged
money mules
nationwide by
conducting
interviews, issuing
warning letters, and
bringing civil and
criminal cases.
Secret Service
agents aided these
efforts by seizing
and forfeiting elder
fraud proceeds in
transit from victims
to perpetrators.
“Homeland Security
Investigations is
committed to the
fight against elder
fraud in conjunction
with the Justice
Department, and our
other law
enforcement
partners,” said
Executive Associate
Director Derek
Benner. “HSI Special
Agents across the
country have worked
to address illegal
fund transfers,
fraudsters operating
technical-support
schemes, and elder
fraud of all
varieties. We will
continue to use
creative solutions
to protect our
nation’s seniors
from fraud;
financial security
is critical to
homeland security.”
“The Secret Service
is committed to
aggressively
investigating and
disrupting organized
criminal groups who
prey on our most
vulnerable
citizens,” said
Secret Service
Director Randolph
“Tex”
Alles. “The
results of the elder
fraud sweep
announced today
demonstrate what can
be achieved though
incredible
partnerships between
federal, state, and
local law
enforcement
agencies.”
The Department of
Justice 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 online
here.
Exceptional
assistance from
foreign law
enforcement partners
amplified the
effectiveness of the
Department’s
initiative. The
sweep announced
today benefited
greatly from the
work of the
International
Mass-Marketing Fraud
Working Group
(IMMFWG), a network
of civil and
criminal law
enforcement agencies
from Belgium,
Canada, Europol, the
Netherlands, Norway,
Spain, the United
Kingdom and the
United States.
The IMMFWG is
co-chaired by the
Department of
Justice and the FTC,
and law enforcement
in the United
Kingdom, and serves
as a model for
international
cooperation against
specific threats
that endanger the
financial well-being
of each member
country’s residents.
Due to the IMMFWG’s
network of law
enforcement,
simultaneous
technical-support
fraud consumer
education campaigns
are being released
in Canada, the
Netherlands, the
United Kingdom, and
the United States.
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.
More information on
the sweep can be
found at : www.justice.gov
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