The San Diego Seniors Community Foundation (SDSCF), in collaboration with the FBI San Diego Citizens Academy, are hosting an Elder Fraud Prevention seminar at the La Mesa Adult Enrichment Center (8450 La Mesa Blvd. in La Mesa) on Friday, Nov. 7 at 12:30 p.m. Supported by the Wells Fargo Foundation, this event will educate seniors and their families about preventing fraud and scams. The entire community is invited and encouraged to bring an older adult. Elder fraud is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the country, surging 84% nationwide in one year. Seniors lose more than $3 billion annually to scams, and in San Diego County, cases have risen by more than 30% in the last two years. Isolated seniors are at especially high risk—making prevention efforts, not just helpful but urgent. Scams using AI, video, and social media are exploiting seniors – targeting even highly educated professionals. Common frauds regularly affecting individuals over age 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 it 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 include advanced fee frauds, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, market manipulation fraud, real estate investing, and trust-based investing such as cryptocurrency investment scams. The FBI National Citizens Academy Alumni Association (FBICAAA) recently awarded the Excellence in Community Partnerships, a national recognition, to the FBI San Diego Citizens Academy Alumni Association for their work with SDSCF in educating more than 500 San Diego seniors on fraud prevention. To register, visit fbisdcaaa.org/elderfraud. For more information, visit www.sdscf.org or www.fbisdcaaa.org/elderfraud.
