PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — Peachtree City police say they are seeing a sharp rise in the number of seniors falling prey to scam artists.
“What they do is they first build a relationship with someone, gain their trust,” says Peachtree City Police Detective Michelle Taylor.
Detective Taylor told Channel 2′s Tom Regan that a 78-year-old resident recently fell victim to multiple online scams that cost him nearly $500,000.
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In one, criminals hacked the Facebook account of one of the victim’s friends, messaged him and encouraged him to invest in a program that would bring large financial returns.
“What he was instructed to do, was purchase gift cards for Sephora, eBay, Apple, take photos and send them over WhatsApp,” said Taylor.
The man bought about $32,000 in gift cards over several weeks, which the scammers then used. But investigators say he lost even more money in a check cashing scam.
“This scammer had sent counterfeit money in the form of checks to our victim, where he wired good money to the that person, and the checks eventually bounced, and the victim is out of that money,” said Taylor.
The detective said police began investigating after the victim’s bank contacted they about suspicious money transfers.
“In talking with the victim, we realized he had send hundreds of thousand of dollars over the last year to a scammer,” said Taylor.
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Police say they are investigating even more stunning cases of senior fraud.
“This year alone, we have seen a really large uptick in these types of scams. We have seen some as high as $800,000 in Peachtree City, and a few that were into the millions. These are people who have really worked hard for their money, and their retirements and it’s gone.” said Det. Taylor.
The FBI say scams targeting individuals aged 60 and older have caused over $3.4 billion in losses in 2023, an increase of approximately 11% from the year prior. The average victim of elder fraud lost $33,915 due to these crimes in 2023,
“We put a lot of emphasis on looking over our kids and their cyber security safety, but really we also need to be checking in on the aging community. Family members can make a really big impact by keeping tabs on their parents or grandparents finances,” said Det. Taylor
A former federal fraud investigator is now helping Peachtree City police warn seniors about fraud. That includes presentation at senior living facilities.
“It tells them what to be aware of, the current scams fraudsters are using, and how to prevent becoming a victim,” says PTC Police Auxiliary Volunteer Harry Schaefer.
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