Georgia seniors losing more money than ever before to online fraud, FBI report says

ATLANTA — New numbers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that Georgia’s seniors are losing more money than ever to online fraud.

Whether it’s text messages, social media and email, more criminals are getting into our families’ lives.

Now, more than ever, you need to watch what you click online.

Channel 2′s Linda Stouffer has a warning from the FBI about different types of online fraud, and how they’re costing people real money.

“I know people who have gotten scammed, but you never think it’s going to happen to you,” Kathie Lunsford told Channel 2 Action News.

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In April, Channel 2 Action News showed you how it happened to Lunsford. A fake number led to pictures of badges and information.

It all sounded so official, Lunsford handed over her social security number.

The FBI’s latest report on elder fraud says in the past year, cyber crimes and fraud was up 18% in the past year in the Peach State.

For Georgians, it was a stunning $92.4 million. The FBI said most of that money is gone, lost to criminals overseas.

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“Crypto investment fraud, an individual befriends you online,” Special Agent Aaron Seres told Channel 2 Action News. “The best advice I would give is, one, don’t send your money to people who you don’t know, have not met in person.”

The top crimes impacting seniors in Georgia are investment fraud to the tune of $32 million, tech support for $12 million and confidence or romance scams for at least another $10 million lost.

Nationally, the FBI said investment scams cost elderly Americans $1.2 billion.

According to the full report from the FBI, “elder fraud complaints to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (or IC3) increased by 14% in 2023, and associated losses increased by about 11%,” nationally. Overall, elderly Americans lost $3.4 billion in 2023, the FBI said, with an average loss of $33,915.

In Georgia, more than 2,100 people were victims of these types of crimes in 2023, according to the FBI.

Seres said there are ways to avoid falling for different cybercrimes, like a tech support scam, which the FBI said were the most widely reported type of elder fraud in 2023.

“You can always turn off your computer, restart it, run a virus protection, see if you still have a problem, then call a legitimate vendor,” Seres said.

He said sometimes, confidence and romance schemes can also have bigger impacts than just losing money.

“You’re losing your money, and then you’re having these emotional stressors that even sometimes lead to suicide. So if you’ve been in one of these situations, the most important thing to do [is] contact your bank, contact your trusted ones, get help,” Seres said.

The FBI said communication about these issues is so important. Talk to your loved ones and share the information so more people can spot the red flags.

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