ALBANY – With thousands of older New Yorkers losing more than $200 million a year to scams, AARP New York is calling on legislative leaders to join Gov. Kathy Hochul to include consumer protections in a final state budget to combat an ever-growing problem of elder financial fraud in New York state.
A coalition – the state Legislature’s Aging Committee chairs and other members of the Legislature, the Superintendent of the State Police and a credit union industry security expert –highlighted the elder financial fraud crisis in the state during a news conference at the State Capitol.
More than 4,300 New Yorkers aged 60 and older lost a total of $203,437,635 in 2023, the fourth highest of any state, according to an FBI report released last year. That’s $557,000 dollars a day – and $23,200 an hour – lost to financial exploitation. The average loss per victim in 2023 was $47,000.
“These numbers are appalling, and they’re made worse by the fact that so many of the victims are people who worked their whole lives to put aside funds for their retirement only to see much of it – or all of it – stolen through a financial scam,” said Beth Finkel, AARP New York State Director. “Because older New Yorkers have accumulated savings after a lifetime of work, they’re a prime target of scammers who are using increasingly sophisticated methods of gaining access to someone’s bank accounts or other financial resources.
Finkel called on state legislators to address the problem.
“AARP New York is calling on Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to include key fraud prevention measures in the final state budget,” Finkel said. “These safeguards would equip financial institutions to recognize and help shield older New Yorkers from being scammed out of substantial amounts of money.”
She also called for banks to take action to protect their customers.
“Where are financial institutions in helping to stop this crime? The big banks cannot sit idle on the sidelines,” she said. “They need to work with the governor, Legislature and AARP to make sure their own customers have the protections they need. Banks need to get on board.”
The governor’s executive budget includes a crucial safeguard – training bank tellers and employees of financial institutions to identify signs of financial exploitation. These employees could place a hold on a suspicious transaction and refer the matter to law enforcement to allow them to investigate.
One of the most common and devious financial scams targeting older people is the “grandparent scam.” A criminal poses as a relative – usually a grandchild – asking for money, stating they are in an emergency. The older adult in many instances will go to their bank to withdraw cash to help the “relative.” Since fraudsters often ask to be paid via cash, gift cards or money transfer, which don’t always require identification to collect, the older adult may have no way of ever recovering their money.
“I commend AARP for their dogged focus on eradicating elder fraud. It is despicable that our beloved older New Yorkers would be targeted in this way,” State Sen. Cordell Cleare, chair of the Senate Aging Committee, said. “I believe that every proactive solution must be on the table, including legislation I already passed this year establishing the Interagency Elder Justice Task Force.”
New York State Police Superintendent Steven G. James said law enforcement has seen a substantial jump in the number of scams aimed at older people.
“Our agency has witnessed a significant increase in the number of scams targeting the elderly, which have also become more sophisticated,” James said. “While we diligently investigate each report, by the time we are notified, the money has already changed hands. With this legislation, the financial sector will have the authority to stop or delay payment of funds when fraud is suspected. This will prevent seniors from being stripped of their savings and give law enforcement a better chance of arresting the suspects before they can escape with the stolen money.”
