TAMPA, Fla. — There’s an alarming warning from the FBI for older people, especially in Florida.
A new report reveals that last year the number of scams targeting the elderly skyrocketed in our state.
“It’s vicious,” said Merle Lee Korejwo, who knows this too well.
Korejwo, from Englewood, says she lost her life savings to a sophisticated scam recently – $1.3 million.
"You don’t know that you’re in a scam or being scammed until you’re in that scam," she said. "Everybody tries to get you out of it and they tell you you’re not stupid. You were taken, and they are very good at what they do."
The reports from the year 2022 show the number of scams against the elderly is skyrocketing, according to the FBI. Losses were up 84% over 2021.
Elderly Floridians lost over $325 million, the report continues. The average target was taken for $35,000.
Florida, with a high percentage of retirees, is second only to California.
Bryan Oglesby with the Better Business Bureau says many of the scams involve bogus tech support, non-payment claims, confidence and romance schemes.
"Usually long-term scams, they create emotion, they drag that victim along through many stages of the scam," Oglesby said. "And their end game is to get as much money out of them out of their victims as they want."
Experts think a major reason for the spike is crooks becoming more sophisticated, using realistic phone numbers and web pages. Their advice? Don’t assume they’re legit.
“Find that agency or that company's website directly. Look in the back of your credit card. Call the numbers that you know and trust," Oglesby said. "Contact that company directly and ask them questions and verify, is this a legitimate thing that's happening, or is this a scam that I'm dealing with?"
Another bit of advice, Oglesby said, is to watch out for anyone asking for payment using pre-paid cash cards or cryptocurrency. Both of those are red flags — and are also far more difficult to trace and recoup.
Incredibly, the actual number of those targeted could be much higher. The Better Business Bureau says only about 10% of such scams get reported, with people often too embarrassed to come forward – or not believing it’s worth the effort to pursue.
“No compassion at all. There’s no empathy, there’s no feeling,” said Korejwo . “It’s strictly a business and they don’t care who they hurt.”