Every year scammers steal millions of dollars from unsuspecting seniors, and according to California's Attorney General, Rob Bonta, it's a problem that is only getting worse.
"It's important to talk about elder abuse. Sometimes there is stigma, shame, embarrassment. No one should be shameful,” Bonta said.
Bonta is talking about thieves who target seniors by scamming them through phone calls or emails.
It's a major problem affecting thousands of people statewide, including Bonta's own mother Cynthia.
Get Southern California news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC LA newsletters.
"She's loving and trusting. She's not hugely tech savvy either,” Bonta said.
Bonta’s mother was victimized twice and had money stolen from her.
"One was that tech support customer scam and another one was we have embarrassing photos of you that we will release,” Bonta said.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
That is why state and local law enforcement officials held a press conference at Dale’s senior center in downtown Riverside to warn seniors about the growing problem.
Some say they've already been targeted, like Jaime Beltran, who says a scammer recently called her claiming to be from Amazon.
"They tried to get into my credit card accounts, my bank accounts. I was panicking and I was scared,” Beltran said.
Debbie Barrozo says she was sent a fake Wells Fargo email, but she immediately reported it to the company. She says sadly many seniors are vulnerable.
"A lot of them are lonely and so they think this is a friend, you know, they trust so easily,” Barrozo said.
"Each year older adults lose nearly $3 billion dollars to financial frauds and schemes,” Bonta said.
Bonta says there are multiple schemes to watch out for including phone scams, investment fraud, romance scams and people who pretend to be a friend or family in desperate need of money.
"According to the FBI there were more than 88,000 reported victims of fraud over the age of 60 just last year,” Bonta said.
And he says the total financial loss has increased by a whopping 84% since 2021.
Law enforcement officials say the thieves are often aggressive and try to bully seniors into giving them personal information. They will also sometimes pretend to be police.
“Law enforcement will never call you or text you in an attempt to get money from you,” Chief Larry Gonzalez with the Riverside Police Department, said.
For more information on how you can protect yourself, visit the AARP website.
