On the Front Lines of Fraud

Sheila Brewer-Montero works with fraud victims who have lost their homes, their vehicles, all their savings.

“Everything in their life is on fire.... You’re meeting people in some of the worst times of their lives. You’ve got to be willing to sit in the fire with them and gently help them get out,” she says.

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As fraud soars across New York state and the country, AARP and other organizations are working to broaden their education and prevention efforts. Brewer-Montero, a fraud/scam prevention coordinator at Lifespan of Greater Rochester, is part of that effort. She came to it after 30 years in school psychology and global corporate security.

“This job is a mix of being in security but also being a social worker,” she says. “Kind of having one foot in each camp.”

The fraud victims she meets at Lifespan — a nonprofit provider of programming and services for older adults—often blame themselves for their losses, which can climb into the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Consider the story of one client she worked with: The client had nearly $300,000 stolen by a scammer who claimed to be friends with a relative of the client and said they wanted help starting a business in Hong Kong. When officials at the client’s bank tried to stop a wire transfer for the largest chunk of the money — saying it was a scam — the client became irate, Brewer-Montero says. In the end, the bank gave in.

Two days later, the client realized what had happened. But by then, the money was gone.

“One of the first things I’ll do is, I’ll say to them, ‘There was a crime committed against you,’” she says. “Financial exploitation is a crime — just as much a crime as any other crime.”

Understanding that can bring some relief. “People come to understand that it wasn’t their fault — that these criminals are master manipulators,” she says.

LARGE THEFTS DRIVE LOSSES

Americans 60 and older have seen a substantial increase in losses to fraud, with reported losses up fourfold since 2020, according to federal statistics. The increase was driven largely by reported losses of more than $100,000, often to investment scams, romance scams or impersonations, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

“Five or more years ago, the scams were like, ‘Let’s get a thousand bucks off of them and move on,’ ” says Kathy Stokes, AARP’s senior director of fraud prevention programs. “And now they’re holding on for months, creating these trust relationships and taking everything—just everything.”

‘BIG SHRED NY’ IN APRIL, MAY

AARP offers several national and state resources to help people protect themselves from fraud.

AARP New York will offer free document-shredding events at more than two dozen locations from April through mid-May. For dates, times and locations, visit aarp.org/NYStopScams.