Delia L. Smith, United States Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands has joined national, state, local and tribal leaders today in recognizing World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD). Since 2006, it has been commemorated to promote awareness and increase understanding of the many forms of elder abuse as well as the resources available to those at risk.
Highlighting the partnership between law enforcement and the public, U.S. Attorney Smith emphasized the importance of awareness and education. “My office and the Department of Justice are committed to prosecuting those who abuse the elderly, including by financial exploitation,” Smith said.
Elder abuse is an act that knowingly, intentionally or negligently causes or creates a serious risk of harm to an older person by a family member, caregiver or other person in a trust relationship.
Such harm may be financial, physical, sexual or psychological. The Justice Department maintains a variety of programs and initiatives to combat elder abuse. The Transnational Elder Fraud Task Force leads federal and state agencies working collaboratively to investigate and prosecute foreign-based schemes that target older Americans.
In addition to aggressively investigating the individuals, organizations and networks responsible for these crimes, this initiative provides the public with information to guard against both traditional scams, such as tech support fraud, as well as trending schemes or romance scams.
Using one scam to perpetrate or conceal another, some fraudsters rely on money mules to move the proceeds of their illegal activity. Preying on the goodwill or financial vulnerability of their targets, scammers recruit people, many times older victims, to participate in schemes to move money in ways that avoid notice. The Money Mule Initiative identifies and addresses money mule activity to disrupt these fraud schemes, and it helps people to recognize and avoid participation in perpetuating fraud.
To help older individuals and their families identify and avoid fraudulent activity, the Justice Department provides Senior Scam Alerts with information about the tactics used in specific schemes.
For example, in Social Security Administration Impostor schemes, scammers impersonate government administrators and falsely report suspicious activity to request that the victims provide their Social Security number for confirmation. In Tech Support scams, fraudsters contact victims, sometimes through internet pop-up messages, to warn about non-existent computer problems, ask that the victim give them remote access to their computer, identify a non-existent problem, then demand large sums of money for unnecessary services.
In Lottery scams, telemarketers falsely notify victims that they have won a sweepstakes and tell them they must first pay fees for shipping, insurance, customs duties or taxes before they can claim their prizes.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of the Virgin Islands continues to work with federal, and local law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute elder abuse crimes.
To learn more about the department’s elder justice efforts, please visit the Elder Justice Initiative page at https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice. To report elder fraud, contact the dedicated National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 or 1-833-372-8311 and visit the FBI’s IC3 Elder Fraud Complaint Center at www.IC3.gov
