Leon Krolikowski
New Canaan Police Chief on Fraud Prevention for Seniors
|
According to the “2018 DOJ Report on Senior Abuse and Financial Exploitation,” each year an estimated $3 billion is stolen from America’s seniors through a variety of mass mailing, romance, and vendor or contractor scams. They may also fall prey to imposters who claim to represent the IRS, Medicare or Medicaid, or Social Security. Unfortunately, New Canaan is not immune to these scams.
In 2021 our Department investigated 47 fraud complaints and some of these incidents targeted seniors. This month, a senior resident contacted our Department to report being the victim of a PayPal scam. The scammer emailed the resident and stated that a PayPal payment was received. The resident opened the fraudulent email, which may have allowed the scammer to access the resident’s computer.