Elder Fraud in Delaware

This article is not about elder fraud, scams, or elder abuse. It is a newsletter from a Pennsylvania state representative discussing budget negotiations, school year wishes, labor unions, and community events. While it mentions an "Elder Fraud Prevention Seminar" scheduled for 9/23, this is merely a calendar listing, not substantive content about fraud or elder abuse. This does not meet the content criteria for the Elderus research database.

Arizona is projected to lose over $4 billion to financial fraud in 2024, with the state ranking 11th nationally in fraud rates at 1,459 cases per 100,000 residents, according to a Common Sense Institute report. Common fraud types affecting Arizonans include grandparent scams, romance scams, gift card scams, skimming, and forgery, with experts noting that only about 14% of fraud is reported to authorities. Researchers recommend that families help protect older adults—who are at higher risk due to lower technological familiarity—by teaching them to verify sources before sharing financial information online.

Two Delaware County seniors each lost approximately $9,000 in a phone scam where callers impersonated their adult children claiming to be in accidents, then posed as bail bondsmen demanding cash to prevent jail time. The scammers used rideshare services to send couriers to collect the money wrapped in shoeboxes, with funds ultimately transported to Newark, New Jersey and Reading, Pennsylvania. Police urge residents to hang up on such calls and contact authorities, noting that legitimate law enforcement never demands cash payment.

A nationwide health care fraud takedown resulted in 324 defendants charged across the United States for schemes involving over $14.6 billion in false billings and illegal drug diversion, with authorities seizing over $245 million in assets. Four defendants were charged in the Eastern District of Louisiana, including the co-owner of a diagnostic laboratory who allegedly defrauded Medicare of approximately $4.4 million through over $30 million in false genetic testing claims, and a physician who billed Medicare approximately $24 million for medically unnecessary genetic testing. These schemes targeted Medicare and programs serving elderly and disabled populations through kickback schemes and fraudulent billing practices.

An anesthesiology resident at Seattle Children's Hospital and UW Medical Center was criminally charged with diverting narcotic medications (fentanyl and hydromorphone) for personal use over at least a year, sometimes while working and treating patients; simultaneously, Pinnacle Health PC, a Seattle medical practice, settled a civil case for billing over $500,000 to federal programs for experimental, unapproved treatments. These cases were part of a nationwide 2025 healthcare fraud takedown involving 324 defendants charged with $14.6 billion in alleged false billings and illegal diversion of 15 million controlled substance pills.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced reinvigorated efforts to combat transnational elder fraud schemes costing billions of dollars, with recent prosecutions targeting romance fraud, lottery fraud, tech support fraud, and grandparent scams. Key cases include Troy Murray, who sold a database of over seven million elderly Americans' personal information to Jamaican lottery fraudsters and laundered $1.6 million in proceeds, and Dennis Anderson and Frank Angelori, who brokered lead lists to Jamaica-based scammers from 2015-2020. Individual victims lost significant sums, with one Arizona victim losing over $400,000 to a lottery fraud scheme.