MOUNT VERNON — An elderly Knox County woman escaped becoming a victim of a scam thanks to a family member who recognized the red flags. However, many seniors are not as fortunate.
“Fraud against seniors is rising every year along with internet crimes against children,” John Bartolucci of the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force said.
Bartolucci is a Danville High School graduate with 21 years in law enforcement.
He is also a special deputy with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, teaches at the U.S. Secret Service’s National Computer Forensic Institute, and holds credentials as a federal law enforcement officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Last December, he spoke to the Knox County Regional Planning Commission about scams targeting seniors and how to prevent becoming a victim.
“Senior fraud is one of the fastest growing types of crime, and it definitely is correlated to the increase of technology and the internet and technology being in everything we do,” he said.
According to Bartolucci, senior fraud accounted for $3.6 billion in 2024 in people over age 60. The average loss per victim is $33,915.
However, he said experts estimate only 19% of older victims report crimes.
“So we’re talking about a very, very large amount of money,” the cybercrime expert said.
Bartolucci said scammers target seniors because they tend to have more accumulated savings than younger people. Additionally, they trust authority figures more and are less familiar with technology, online payment methods, and cryptocurrency.
“Seniors tend to have less interactions with people, so they value those interactions more. Sometimes they might just be more attracted to the fact that somebody’s communicating with them,” he said.
“The biggest reason, though, is some of these scans are just really, really difficult to detect.”
Six major scams
Bartolucci said there are six major scams: tech support, emergency, romance, identity theft and account takeovers, impersonation, and sweepstakes.
A common denominator is that the scammer either wants money directly or access to account information, credentials, and passwords on your computer.
Bartolucci said the scammers often already have valid information and use it to obtain more.
“People always ask how they get this valid information. You would be surprised how much information is out and available about you on the internet,” he said.
“I’m certainly not trying to scare you because it’s just the age we live in.”
Bartolucci said scammers might call with a restricted number or a local area code. Using the local area code makes people think it is a local school, business, or organization.
Once they answer the call, the system notes the call was answered by a human. Calls will increase exponentially because it registers as a valid number.
“If it feels rushed, secretive, or scary, stop and verify. This is the biggest piece of information I can give about stopping some type of fraud.”
john Bartolucci, cybercrime expert
Bartolucci said scammers emphasize urgency and secrecy.
“You start making phone calls, the story might start unraveling pretty quick, right?” he asked.
Many seniors are isolated and crave a connection or company. This makes them vulnerable to romance scams.
However, Bartolucci said romance scams are not as prevalent because there is no quick payoff.
“It’s long term, and it takes a lot longer to do. They build the rapport, they build the friendship,” he said.
The cybercrime expert said that people can meet legitimately online. However, if someone’s asking for money, it’s probably not legitimate.
Credit card fraud
Bartolucci said the majority of identity theft the Secret Service sees stems from credit card skimming. This can occur by handing a credit card to someone who processes the transaction out of sight, such as at a restaurant.
Skimming electronic devices, such as those used at gas pumps or in retail stores, is also prevalent.
“Typically, your skimming type cases are Organized Crime,” Bartolucci said. “They’re not like somebody in the basement stealing a couple of credit cards.”
He said the newer way to prevent fraud is for ATMs or gas pumps to ask for a PIN or ZIP code. The card does not store that information; requesting additional information establishes a two-way communication for authentication.
Another way to prevent credit card fraud is through an app such as Cred.ai. Cred.ai lets you turn it on and off before and after using a credit card.
“As soon as I’m done paying for the meal, this card is inactive,” Bartolucci said.
“Another level is when I pay for something, it’ll text me and say was this you? I push yes, they run the card again, and it approves it. If I don’t say anything, it doesn’t get approved.”
Ways to protect against fraud
The Knox County woman who escaped being defrauded went to two banks to withdraw $30,000.
Bartolucci acknowledged that bank tellers have to walk a fine line when a customer asks to withdraw a large sum.
“That’s not necessarily a crime yet, right? Or maybe not a crime at all. So we might be sticking our nose someplace that doesn’t belong, but we certainly want to try to help assist people and stop people from making a fraud,” he said.
If someone suspects they are a victim of fraud, Bartolucci said time is of the essence in reporting.
After 12 to 24 hours, the scammer can route the money to various accounts, many of them overseas, making it difficult, if not impossible, to trace.
“If you believe you’ve been a victim of some type of fraud or scheme, the first call you should make is your local law enforcement office,” he said.
Individuals can call the Secret Service or the U.S. Attorney’s Office. However, they have a $1,000,001 threshold for opening a financial crime case.
“That is a really high bar to lose money,” Bartolucci said. “But the sheriff’s office can take the report, and they can investigate it.”
Bartolucci noted that the sheriff’s office can request assistance from him or the Secret Service.
“In a federal police case, if the Knox County Sheriff’s Office is investigating something, I can piggyback their investigation and we can run everything through Knox County,” he said. “So your first call should always be to your local agency.”