By Mary O’KEEFE

A week ago, the Justice Department announced the establishment of the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force, which will be a joint law enforcement effort bringing together resources and the DOJ’s Consumer Protection Branch, the U.S. Attorneys’ Office for six federal districts, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and other organizations. The Strike Force will focus on investigating and prosecuting individuals and entities associated with foreign-based fraud schemes that disproportionately affect American seniors. These include telemarketing, mass-mailing and tech-support fraud schemes, according to a DOJ release.

According to the National Institute on Aging, most victims of elder abuse are women but men have been victimized, too. Targets are often older people who do not have family or friends nearby, and people with disabilities, memory problems or dementia.

During an outreach community meeting in March, Assemblymember Laura Friedman gathered identity theft experts to discuss the issue; among them was Special Agent William Boyd, DOJ, California. Boyd deals with unlicensed board and care facilities.

“Some say they will provide services for residents, have their clothing washed and [provide] other [help],” Boyd said in a March interview. “Then once [people] get to this place they find [these services are not provided].”

Independent living facilities are typically for residents who do not need assistance with daily activities. If residents need more help those services must be provided.

When a business designates itself as an assisted living facility it must have a license from the California Adult Care Licensing Program, which means the business is monitored by the State of California Dept. of Social Services. If the business is an independent living facility, it does not have to follow the same permitting guidelines, Boyd said. Unfortunately, he added, by the time residents find they are in an independent living facility rather than an assisted living facility the damage has already begun with the Medicare/MediCal information already shared with the facility.

“Your money will come in ways [like] Social Security,” he said. The owners or company representatives will have themselves designated as payees.

“They will take your money and will probably put you out,” he said. “They will still get your money; it’s still coming in, so they don’t need you.”

He added that credit cards in the resident’s name are also used by fraudulent facility owners.

Boyd said another scam residents should be aware of is when facilities list residents as being in hospice care, even though they are not. Hospice health care is used for those who are in the last stages of life due to an illness. Businesses can receive $5,000 to $8,000 a month for this type of care.

“You need a doctor to sign off on hospice,” Boyd said. “These [facilities] often have doctors who are willing to sign … They can get generally $5,000 for signing off.”

There are many scams that target the elderly who live at home as well. Some of those scams include a phone call from someone claiming to be the victim’s grandchild. The scam may include a host of characters, which often include an emergency responder, like someone pretending to be a police officer. They will weave a story of their grandchild supposedly being in trouble, either involved in an accident or under arrest for one reason or another. All the victim has to do is send money in a way designated by the scammer. Often they ask for money on an iTune card or some other gift card, or wire the money to a location.

There are other scams from people pretending to be an IRS employee who says a bogus amount of money is owed by the victim. This is typically accompanied by threats of law enforcement coming after the victim. There are other scams that contact their victims via phone, mail and email.

  “It doesn’t matter where these criminals live. We’re committed to keeping our elderly citizens safe, whether they’re being targeted door-to-door, over the phone, or online from thousands of miles away,” said Director Christopher Wray of the FBI. “Our new Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force will give us additional resources and tools to identify and stop those who are targeting our senior communities from overseas. [Those who think they] may be a victim of elder fraud, or know someone who is, please let us know.”

The announcement of the Strike Force was made as a way to recognize the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on June 15.

Elder abuse cases can be filed with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or by calling (877) 382-4357.

  Mary Okeefe