This Week in Elder Fraud · 2026-10-12 to 2026-10-18
Romance scams and callers posing as officials led this week's reports
Romance scams were the most frequent topic in this week's 216 articles, appearing in 77, with many covering a new documentary and a Senate review of dating apps. Reports of callers posing as government agents, police and banks came from police departments around the country, along with several accounts of money recovered when someone acted quickly.
Drawn from 216 news reports collected by Elderus this week. Most reported from California, Florida, New York.
Callers posing as federal agents, police and jail staff
Callers this week claimed to be an FTC investigator, an FDIC agent, a jury duty officer and jail staff. They asked for payment by Bitcoin, mailed cash, gift cards and Zelle. In one report, $15,500 in mailed cash was intercepted at a UPS facility and recovered, though the Bitcoin was not. In another, a Georgia bank flagged unusual transactions and the woman's daughter alerted authorities after $50,000 had been sent over three months. Two Georgia inmates were also sentenced to 200 and 120 months for a jury duty phone scheme with at least 119 victims.
No real agency will ask you to mail cash, buy gift cards or move money to Bitcoin, so if anyone does, hang up and call me.
Reported by yahoo.com, finance.yahoo.com, aol.com, fox5atlanta.com, lenawee.mi.us
Romance and "pig butchering" scams
A California retiree's $500,000 loss to a long online romance tied to cryptocurrency investing was covered by several outlets. His son and his bank stepped in when a second contact tried to get a $45,000 transfer, blocking wires and gift card purchases. The Kenosha Police Department described sweethearts who ask for money for airline tickets, tuition or medical costs. A Senate investigation reported that nearly 1.5 million scammer accounts matched with U.S. users on Tinder in the first nine months of 2025.
If someone you have only met online ever asks for money, even for something small, I would love to talk it over with you first.
Reported by abc7chicago.com, yahoo.com, aol.com, consumeraffairs.com, abc7news.com
Fake bank fraud departments
The Pasco Sheriff's Office and the AARP Fraud Watch Network each described calls or texts from someone claiming to be the bank's fraud department. The caller says money must be withdrawn or moved to be kept safe. The payment routes named included wire transfer, cryptocurrency, barcodes, Western Union and crypto kiosks. AARP noted that these callers may already have some of the person's account details.
If your bank calls or texts about a problem, hang up and call the number on your card or log in to your account yourself.
Reported by hernandosun.com, wiscassetnewspaper.com, communityimpact.com
Medicare Open Enrollment calls
Open Enrollment runs from October through December 7, and the BBB, Wisconsin officials and local news stations each issued warnings this week. Wisconsin's Senior Medicare Patrol and the Better Business Bureau reported complaints about spoofed caller IDs, offers of new Medicare cards and demands for urgent payment. Officials advise using official Medicare resources only.
If someone calls about a new Medicare card or a payment, hang up and contact Medicare directly instead of using any number they give you.
Reported by qctimes.com, wbay.com, news8000.com, thestreet.com
Tech support pop-ups and calls
An 81-year-old Wisconsin resident recovered nearly $45,000 after a local detective traced and retrieved transfers made in an online tech support scam. In another account, a caller posing as Microsoft locked an 89-year-old woman's computer and got her to install remote-access software. Her son stepped in before any money was lost.
If a screen message tells you to call a number, switch the computer off and call me before doing anything else.
Reported by wearegreenbay.com, wyomingnews.com
One person's story
A woman in Kona, Hawaii received a call from someone claiming to be a federal officer, who said she was under investigation for money laundering and trafficking. She mailed four packages holding her $60,000 in life savings. She then reported what had happened to police right away. Officer Eli-Dominic Cayetano worked with the U.S. Postal Service to track all four packages before they reached their destinations in California and Oahu, and her full amount was returned.
Forward this to your parent
Hi, I'm sending you this because I think you'll find it useful. This week's news had many stories of callers pretending to be a bank, Medicare, the police or a federal agent. Real ones never ask you to mail cash, buy gift cards, use a Bitcoin machine or keep a call secret. If a call like that comes, hang up, then call back on a number you look up yourself. Or call me. Any time, any hour, and no question is too small. If you ever do send money, tell someone right away. Banks and police have gotten money back when they heard quickly.
One thing to do this week
This weekend, take ten minutes to agree on a family rule: any call, text or message about money from a bank, agency or officer gets a hang-up and a call to a family member or to the number on the card.
More on protecting an aging parent →