A growing number of scammers are targeting senior citizens with more and more sophisticated schemes — both online and on the telephone — to steal their money, says Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, who created a special unit to investigate cyber and economic crimes.
“From AI-generated scams to cryptocurrency theft and robocalls threatening arrest, these crimes are devastating,” Cordero-Stutz told a U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging during a field hearing in Doral on Thursday morning. (Watch the hearing here)
“Retirement funds are wiped out, victims are saddled with debt, and many are left feeling embarrassed, isolated, and afraid,” she said.
The hearing was scheduled and chaired by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, who is leading a bipartisan effort in the U.S. Senate to crack down on financial scams targeting older Americans. He recently introduced a bill aimed at equipping local and state law enforcement with more advanced tools and resources to track down scammers.
READ MORE: Sen. Rick Scott: Scammers ripped off $5 billion from seniors last year. His new bill goes after them
Last year alone, scams cost Americans over age 60 more than $4.8 billion, with individuals aged 50 to 59 losing an additional $2.5 billion, according to Scott.
"One of the biggest issues I hear about from Floridians and seniors around the country is the growing threat of scams, fraud and financial exploitation,” said Scott in his opening remarks.
“Whether it’s a phone call from someone posing as a grandchild in trouble, a suspicious investment scheme delivered through the mail or a government imposter threatening jail time, these criminals are targeting seniors with increasing sophistication.”
He noted that most victims do not even report the scams out of “fear, shame or the simple belief that nothing can or will be done.”
Thursday's hearing came the same day the Federal Trade Commission reported a dramatic rise in older adults who said they lost $10,000 or more from scammers.
Since 2020, reports the FTC, there has been a four-fold increase in financial losses by seniors by scammers who impersonate government agencies or businesses "to convince consumers to transfer money to protect it, when in reality the scammers want to steal it."
“They prey on our seniors through messaging apps, removing human interaction and making detection harder.”Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz
In her prepared statement, Cordero-Stutz told the committee that investigators with the MDSO’s “Cyber Crimes Bureau” work with cryptocurrency exchanges around the world to recover stolen funds. She said their unit works collaborates with the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
“We’ve seen scammers use AI scripts to generate fake websites and realistic investment dashboards,” she said. “They prey on our seniors through messaging apps, removing human interaction and making detection harder.”
She said scamming victims need to report scams as quickly as possible to help track them down for prosecution.
“The faster scams are reported, the better our chances of stopping them before they vanish and reappear under a new name,” she said.
She also told the committee of another threat to seniors, especially in South Florida: Condo and homeowner association, or HOA, fraud.
“We must not forget the growing threat of Condo and HOA fraud occurring right here in our backyard, a quiet crisis disproportionately affecting our elderly homeowners,” she said.
To combat the problem, Cordero-Stutz said she set up a hotline, and an email address, for people to call if they suspect public or HOA corruption.
“Elderly residents are particularly vulnerable to fraud schemes involving unauthorized assessments, embezzlement, or falsified records,” she said. “These crimes often go unreported or under-investigated due to the complexity of association governance and legal frameworks.”
She advised the public needs to do its part to fight back against scammers by not sharing Social Security numbers or banking information online or over the phone.
“If you get a call from a relative or friend and they tell you to send them money immediately, verify it by calling them back on a trusted number,” she said. “Never let urgency override common sense.”
If you are interested in contacting the MDSO Real Estate Fraud Squad about alleged HOA/Condo fraud or theft, you can send an e-mail to: HOAfraud@mdso.com. You can also call 305-994-1000.
