Article

Volunteer From Home: How CFEs Can Empower and Support Victims of Consumer Scams

By Giancarlo Berrocal Apr 11, 2023

“I have come across many stories of victims who feel they cannot express their gratitude and appreciation enough for giving them the right resources and support through the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline.”

As the amount of money lost to criminals rises every year, the volunteers that power the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline become more and more important in the fight against scams. Each time our volunteers log in to take calls, they are helping victims and their families in crisis by providing resources and a compassionate ear as the victim copes with the impact of a scam. CFE volunteers are invaluable to the victims they support. The following is my personal Helpline experience, which can help fellow CFEs to consider if volunteering may be of interest.

I was about to finish another day volunteering with the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline from my home office when I decided to take one more case. I grabbed the AARP phone and talked to an elderly woman who needed support after being victimized by some sort of tech support scam. With a trembling voice, she started recounting the details of the scam. She said, “We lost everything; all our life savings are gone.” This was just the beginning of a long conversation. I told her empathetically that I felt very sorry about her loss and asked her how much money was involved. She replied, “1 million dollars!”

This was a jaw-dropping moment on my side of the line, trying to digest the news and thinking of a game plan to help this woman cope with such a distressful incident. Not only did she lose her life savings, but she also shared her personal information with the scammer, including social security number and personal financial information. The criminal, by impersonating an online financial services company, stole about $1 million over a period of more than six months. Using social engineering tactics, the criminal offered a program to “restore her privacy,” promising to take her personal information off the internet. The “program” required her to install software that allowed the fraudster to take control of her device and access her online banking, which included retirement, savings and checking accounts. All this money was then transferred to a different account managed by the criminal. The victim was flustered and suffered from depression after having lost everything, so she decided not to report it for a couple of months out of embarrassment and guilt.

I proceeded to recommend that the victim contact her financial institutions to report the fraud, contact one of the three credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on her credit and change all her passwords: computer, email and online banking. To prevent this from happening again, the victim also contacted a reputable software company to clean up her laptop of unwanted malware. Also, the victim reported this scam to the local police, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) run by the FBI.

She thanked me in tears while venting about her frustration and fear. I stayed on the phone giving her reassurance, hope and support until she was calmer.

Recent Trends in Scams Targeting Older Citizens

Consumer scams remain on the rise, and fraudsters have gained considerable ground in our post-pandemic landscape. These scams are increasingly impacting older adults, who lose billions of dollars to fraud and are more likely to suffer emotionally. The most common scams received by the Helpline include investment scams (both traditional assets and cryptocurrencies), sweepstakes and lottery scams, check support scams, romance scams, government imposter scams and identity theft. According to the 2021 Elder Fraud Report, those over the age of 60 reported about $1.7 billion in fraud losses, which is a significant increase from prior years. Unfortunately, there are not enough anti-fraud professionals on the frontlines to support these victims, who usually are not prepared to respond effectively when these events occur. 

Connecting with fraud victims through the AARP Fraud Watch Network offers a unique opportunity for CFE volunteers to obtain firsthand information of the tactics and methods that are being employed by criminals targeting older consumers. Although this list is not a one-stop shop for all trending techniques and methods, these are some of the new trends observed:

  • Romance scams — These types of scams account for about one-third of all calls received by the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline, though the total number could be higher as romance scams are hugely underreported. Unlike other consumer scams, romance scams can have devastating emotional repercussions on the victim, who may feel betrayed and manipulated by someone they trusted and cared for. Unfortunately, it is sometimes hard for some to accept they have been a victim, and victims usually require a lot of emotional support to recover from these experiences.

  • Search Engine ads — Scammers are increasingly impersonating tech brands using search engine advertisements to pray on victims. Con artists know that consumers may need to request assistance with printer issues, activating their streaming service on smart TVs, etc. They also know consumers make typos when typing popular tech brand names when using search engines. Therefore, fraudsters pose as legitimate tech companies masquerading their malfeasance with convincing ads, which they purchased to appear within the top search results. This scam has also been alerted by the FBI IC3 in a public service announcement. 

  • Social Media ads — Fraudsters are increasingly using social engineering techniques to perpetrate fraudulent sales on social media, offering health related products or posing as reputable health companies. Similarly, they tend to offer products or services with unauthorized monthly subscriptions.

  • Tech support scams — Through technical support scams, fraudsters have reengineered their social engineering tactics, so victims believe that an unusual payment or transaction has been detected in their bank accounts, and the victim has a unique opportunity to help law enforcement by using their financial accounts/assets as “bait” to catch criminals. These imposter tech support companies then “allow” criminals to clear out the victim’s accounts and promise to reverse this transaction once law enforcement tracks the criminal down. After weeks of waiting for their money to be returned, the victim realizes this is a scam.

  • Peer-to-peer payments —Another trending scam is to take remote control of a victim’s cell phone to get access to personal information, use peer-to-peer payments applications to transfer money to the fraudster’s payment applications or simply to buy gift cards to then defraud consumers.

What is the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline?

One of the benefits of the post-pandemic era is that there are more opportunities to volunteer from home, including with the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline. This network is comprised of trained fraud specialists and volunteers who receive thousands of calls each month. The Helpline number, 877-908-3360, is free and available to everyone, not just AARP members. A volunteer can offer tips on how to spot a scam, propose steps to avoid fraud, advise on actions to take when a victim experiences fraud, provide emotional support from peers who have experienced fraud, guide families concerned that a loved one is being targeted by a scammer, and make referrals to law enforcement and other agencies that investigate fraud.

As of November 2022, the Helpline is comprised of more than 80 volunteers nationwide.

A helpline volunteer will first take the call from the victim, then reassign the case to a trained specialist if they are not able to help the victim. This is where the Helpline volunteers will be able to directly reach out to the victim and assist them with their case and inquiries.

How to Get Plugged Into the AARP Fraud Watch Network

There are no specific requirements to sign up to the program. There are volunteers from all ages, professions and stages in life. If one is interested in joining, an AARP staff member will connect and provide the person with directions on the next steps to take. There is always a need for volunteers.

For all volunteer opportunities, read the volunteer handbook, fill out the online contact information online form and consent to a background check before officially attending required trainings.

Other AARP Programs Focusing on Helping Victims

The Helpline is not the only program offered by the AARP to support fraud victims. Other programs include:

  • AARP Fraud Watch Network VOA | ReST Program features small groups whose members are led in discussion by one or more trained peer facilitators. The aim is to help victims of fraud re-establish trust, integrate your experience and build back your resilience despite a difficult and painful occurrence.

  • AARP Digital Fraud Fighter is a fraud prevention program to help people over 50 years old protect from common consumer scams. By sharing fraud prevention content from the AARP National Fraud Network across a number of digital platforms, you can raise awareness of the latest scams, especially those targeting older adults.

  • The Perfect ScamSM is a podcast from the AARP Fraud Watch Network that tells stories of people targeted by a scam and equips consumers with the knowledge to give you power over scams.

Author:

Giancarlo Berrocal, CFE

SVP, Operational Risk Management