Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
Most frequent types of scams targeting older adults
0:57:16
·
4 min
Council Member Crystal Hudson inquires about the most frequent types of scams targeting older adults. Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez and Assistant Chief Jason Savino provide insights into common scams and their mechanisms.
- Common scams mentioned include:
- ATM scams
- 'Nephew/grandson in peril' scams
- Scams perpetrated by trusted individuals around financial institutions
- Assistant Chief Savino details the 'family in distress' or 'grandparent' scam:
- Scammers use robocalls to find vulnerable targets
- They pose as family members in distress, often muffling their voice
- A 'closer' then impersonates an authority figure asking for money
- Payments are requested via gift cards, wire transfers, cash, or cryptocurrency
- Savino notes that these cases are challenging to investigate as actors are often overseas
- NYPD has had some success in taking down scam networks, including arrests leading to the recovery of $2 million for victims
Crystal Hudson
0:57:16
Yeah.
0:57:16
Their flyer about Yeah.
0:57:18
Thank you for including that.
0:57:21
What are the most frequent types of scams that older adults encounter?
0:57:26
Do we have data on that specifically?
Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez
0:57:29
We can get back to you on what some of those are.
0:57:32
But we know, you know, the the ATM scam is a pervasive one.
0:57:40
The the nephew grandson in peril is another very frequent one.
0:57:47
And the one that that we're most concerned about is the one perpetrated by people that you know and trust in around financial institutions.
0:57:56
Right.
0:57:57
And so those are the that are the hardest of
Jason Savino
0:58:00
Investigators.
0:58:01
Right?
0:58:01
And and chief morale alluded to it before that family and distress, those robocalls.
0:58:08
You know, we all know somebody in some capacity that's fallen victim to it.
0:58:13
I'll just walk you real quick if if you with your permission through the scan.
0:58:18
So, essentially, these calls obviously go out and drove.
0:58:21
Right?
0:58:21
And individuals are just looking for engagement in some capacity some sort of physical and get out some sort of just somebody to talk to.
0:58:29
Once they get somebody on the hook, the these individuals are called openers, and they'll start the conversation.
0:58:38
And they'll start the conversation really with malice.
0:58:41
Right?
0:58:42
And and they'll say something to the effect of, hey, it's me grandpa.
0:58:46
Now anybody who answers that, they may respond with their grandson or their granddaughter's name.
0:58:53
And that's compounded.
0:58:54
Right?
0:58:55
If if you really wanted to get to know somebody, it's very easy nowadays.
0:58:58
You can go into social media.
0:59:00
You can go into Google.
0:59:01
But if you just call somebody and say, hey, it's me grandpa in a muffled voice.
0:59:06
Some people are gonna respond with that name.
0:59:08
So now you have an engagement, now you have that person talking, then they come up with an excuse, why their voice sounds different, why it's muffled.
0:59:18
Either they're far away, a bad phone connection, something to that effect.
0:59:23
Then they compounded with They'll they'll ultimately beg them not to tell anybody.
0:59:28
Hey, listen.
0:59:29
You know, I'm away.
0:59:30
Don't tell mom and dad.
0:59:31
I'm in trouble.
0:59:32
Then what they'll do fairly quickly, so nobody catches on, is pass that phone to what we call a closer.
0:59:40
And that closer is another subject.
0:59:42
So now that person's on the hook, and that closer comes in in the form of either a cop a a bondsman or usually an attorney.
0:59:51
And what they do is they'll say, listen, I need money either due to an accident or someone's in jail.
0:59:58
I need bail money.
0:59:59
I we've even seen people say that they would kidnap.
1:00:02
So they'll ask for that money, they're a public defender or something to that effect, and they'll ask for the money via gift cards, wire transfers, they sometimes ask for cash or cryptocurrency.
1:00:15
You know, what I will say is this, investigating, these cases are very challenging.
1:00:22
Very challenging in that our actors are overseas.
1:00:25
We're really chasing IP addresses.
1:00:27
We're hoping for a face to face contact.
1:00:29
But once again, I need to give you some degree of confidence we've taken down networks.
1:00:34
We've taken down networks where we've traced origins back to Dominican Republic and taken down networks.
1:00:41
We've made arrests of over 60 individuals to the tune of over $10,000,000 in losses, and I'm very proud that our teams have actually been able to compensate $2,000,000 back to some of our victims.
1:00:58
So we do have success with this.
1:00:59
It's rare.
1:01:00
But when you take down a network, once again, that word gets out.
1:01:05
That word gets out.
1:01:06
You when we when we numerous numerous search warrants, when we entered these locations, it looks like a telephone.
1:01:12
And it's just individuals making calls, making calls, looking for that engagement.
1:01:17
Well, guess what?
1:01:18
They met their match, and they met it again.