Broad Approach Needed to Combat Fraud, AARP Tells Congress

Turning the tide on the tsunami of fraud and scams that often target older adults will take a concerted effort from government, industry and consumer advocates, an AARP expert told members of Congress Tuesday.

AARP Director of Fraud Prevention Programs Kathy Stokes said a “whole-of-society" approach is the best way to take on the transnational organized crime syndicates behind a fraud epidemic that resulted in $61.5 billion in losses for older adults in 2023, according to Federal Trade Commission estimates of reported and unreported fraud.

“Together, we can disrupt their business model, protect millions of consumers, and safeguard billions of dollars in savings and retirement accounts and in our economy,” Stokes said in testimony Tuesday before the House Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions.

Stokes was one of four witnesses who testified before the subcommittee at a hearing on financial fraud. She told lawmakers that it is a long-held myth that most frauds are committed by “some guy in his mom’s basement.” The reality is that transnational organized crime syndicates account for most of the illegal activity that has catastrophic consequences, especially for older adults.

Most scams and fraud go unreported, which explains the large gulf between what FTC says are total reported losses—$10 billion—and actual losses of $158.3 billion in 2023. Older adults account for $61.5 billion of the reported and unreported total, according to Stokes.

A recent AARP report, found that 42 percent of American adults have had a personal experience with fraud. However, 78 percent of those surveyed did not report the crime to local law enforcement or to the FBI, and 89 percent did not report it to FTC.

The report also found that adults 50 and older have a high level of concern about fraud, with 63 percent putting their level of worry between 6 and 10 on a scale of 0 to 10.

In written testimony to the committee, Stokes noted that there are hundreds of scams that criminals use to exploit older Americans, employing emails, text messages, phone calls and more. “In other words, there is no form of communication that fraud criminals have not made dangerous," she wrote.