Elder Financial Exploitation & Fraud: Analyses from FinCEN and FBI

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently issued a Financial Trend Analysis focusing on patterns and trends identified in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data linked to Elder Financial Exploitation (EFE) involving scams or theft perpetrated against older adults.

FinCEN examined BSA reports filed between June 15, 2022 and June 15, 2023 that either used the key term referenced in FinCEN’s June 2022 EFE Advisory or checked EFE as a suspicious activity type. Reports of EFE are significant, and increasing.

FBI Releases 2023 Elder Fraud Report
The Federal Bureau of Investigation – Los Angeles Office, issued a warning about scams targeting the nation’s senior population. In 2023, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received over 880,000 complaints with potential losses exceeding $12.5 billion. In the same year, total losses reported to the IC3 by those over the age of 60 topped $3.4 billion, an 11 percent increase in reported losses from 2022.

There was also a 14 percent increase in complaints filed with IC3 by elderly victims.

Nationwide, tech support fraud was the number one crime type impacting complainants over 60 with nearly 18,000 complaints and almost $600 million in reported losses, while investment scams continued to be the costliest to the elderly with losses exceeding $1.2 billion.

California led the nation with well over 11,000 complaints filed with the IC3 by those over 60. The state also ranked first in reported losses topping $620 million.

Common frauds regularly affecting individuals over 60 include:

• Confidence/romance scam. Criminals pose as interested romantic partners through dating websites to capitalize on their elderly victims’ desire to find companions.
• Tech support scam. Criminals pose as tech support representatives and offer to fix nonexistent computer issues—gaining remote access to victims’ devices and, thus, their sensitive information.
• Cryptocurrency scam. Scammers convince targeted individuals to withdraw large sums of cash and deposit into cryptocurrency ATMs or kiosks at locations provided by the scammers. Once cash is deposited and converted into cryptocurrency, the scammer transfers it to other cryptocurrency accounts.
• Investment scam. Investment fraud involves complex financial crimes often characterized as low-risk investments with guaranteed returns. They comprise of advanced fee frauds, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, market manipulation fraud, real estate investing, and trust-based investing such as cryptocurrency investment scams.

Access the ‘Compliance Hotline’
Your League-member benefits include the Compliance Hotline — providing exclusive access to dedicated compliance experts:

• 844-731-6072
• CANV@viclarityus.com

Using the above phone number and email address, you can gain access to a knowledgeable team that’s ready to address all your credit union’s compliance inquiries — promptly and efficiently. With the Compliance Hotline, you can proactively respond to impromptu questions and issues by getting clarity and insight on technical topics that normally slow you down. We want to help you unlock the full potential of your League membership by leveraging the resources and support you need to navigate the complex world of compliance effortlessly. We’re ALWAYS just a phone call or email away!

Additionally, other League-member compliance resources include:

• ViClarity
• CU PolicyPro
• ComplySight
• InfoSight
• CU Store
• Record Retention Guide
• GRC Technology Solutions 

For more information, email Lisa Quaranta.

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