Source: United States Department of Justice News
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York announced today that it is joining the Justice Department’s Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force, as part of its continuing efforts to protect older adults and prosecute perpetrators of fraudulent schemes.
Since 2019, current Strike Force members — including the Department’s Consumer Protection Branch, six U.S. Attorney’s offices, the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Homeland Security Investigations — have brought successful cases against the largest and most harmful elder fraud schemes and worked with foreign law enforcement to disrupt criminal enterprises, disable their infrastructure and bring perpetrators to justice. Expansion of the Strike Force will help to coordinate the Department’s ongoing efforts to combat sophisticated fraud schemes that target or disproportionately impact older adults. The expansion will increase the total number of U.S. Attorney’s offices comprising the Strike Force from six to 20, including all of the U.S. Attorney’s offices in the states of California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland and New York.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said: “We are intensifying our efforts nationwide to protect older adults, including by more than tripling the number of U.S. Attorney’s offices participating in our Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force dedicated to disrupting, dismantling and prosecuting foreign-based fraud schemes that target American seniors. This expansion builds on the Justice Department’s existing work to hold accountable those who steal funds from older adults, including by returning those funds to the victims where possible.”
United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman stated: “Our district is proud to join the Strike Force as part of the Department’s overall efforts to combat elder abuse, neglect, and financial fraud. We will continue to devote resources to prosecuting the perpetrators of significant exploitation schemes and spreading awareness about these scams so that people do not fall victim to them.”
The Strike Force expansion will further enhance the Department’s existing efforts to protect older adults from fraud and exploitation. From September 2021 to September 2022, Department personnel and its law enforcement partners pursued approximately 260 cases involving more than 600 defendants, both bringing new cases and advancing those previously charged. The matters tackled by the Department and its partners ranged from mass-marketing scams that impacted thousands of victims to bad actors scamming their neighbors. Substantial efforts were also made over the last year to return money to fraud victims.
This past year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York has obtained indictments in two cases under the Elder Justice Initiative. Each case involves theft and misappropriation of funds by a fiduciary of an incompetent, elderly veteran. Both cases remain pending. The charges in the indictments are merely accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Also this year, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander Wentworth-Ping and Christopher Moran, the Office’s Elder Justice Coordinators, participated in outreach efforts in the Town of Dewitt and in Saratoga Springs to spread awareness about scams targeting older Americans.
If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim of financial fraud, help is available via the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 or 833-372-8311. This Department of Justice Hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, is staffed by experienced professionals who provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting or connect them with agencies, and provide resources and referrals on a case-by-case basis. The hotline is staffed seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. English, Spanish and other languages are available. More information about the Department’s elder justice efforts can be found on the Department’s Elder Justice website, www.elderjustice.gov.