Broad & Liberty ran my piece today on elder abuse scams.
You can read the piece via the link below or the text below:
In my last piece posted here, I recalled a couple of my encounters with victims of elder abuse, and I offered tips from the FBI on how to avoid becoming a victim of elder abuse.
June
15th was World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and the FBI released crime prevention
tips for senior citizens, their families and caretakers.
“Elder
abuse — whether through fraud, neglect, or exploitation — has a devastating
impact on victims, their families, and the broader community,” said Wayne A.
Jacobs, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia field office.
“World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is a reminder of our responsibility to protect
older Americans. It’s a chance to reaffirm our commitment to investigating
those who prey on the vulnerable, to educate the public on how to safeguard
themselves and their loved ones, and to encourage victims to come forward and
report scams and abuse to the FBI.”
The
FBI explained that the abuse of older Americans can come in various forms, to
include physical, emotional, mental, or financial exploitation. According to
the 2024 Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Elder Fraud Report, the FBI
received over 147,000 complaints from victims over the age of 60, with reported
losses of approximately $4.8 billion. In 2024, Pennsylvanians over the age of
60 filed over 6,300 complaints of various frauds and scams with over $151
million in reported losses.
Earlier
this month, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Elder Justice Unit
announced charges against Quay Fetherson for defrauding fifteen intellectually
challenged Philadelphia seniors from 2018 to 2024.
Fetherson’s
charges include fifteen counts of Financial Exploitation of a Care Dependent
Person, Identity Theft, Theft by Unlawful Taking, Theft by Deception, and
Forgery.
According
to the District Attorney’s Office, Fetherson, who served as a “fiscal liaison”
for Community Options, a non-profit service provider for adults with
intellectual disabilities, including those with IQs below 70, used his access
to the victims’ bank accounts to enrich himself.
“Fetherson
is alleged to have issued checks from victims’ accounts, had the victims sign
checks, forged victims’ signatures, transported victims to the bank to withdraw
the funds, and then stolen a portion or the entirety of the withdrawn amount,”
the DA’s office stated. “His scheme was uncovered in May 2024 when his
replacement performed an audit and discovered discrepancies in the accounts.
Fetherson is alleged to have embezzled over $100,000 from his victims.”
Fetherson
was arrested on May 27 and arraigned the same day. Unsecured bail was set at a
total of $375,000.
“Mr.
Fetherson violated the trust placed in him by his employers, his victims, and
the larger community,” said Assistant District Attorney Alexander Blumenthal,
Supervisor of the DA’s Elder Justice Unit. “I want to thank
Community Options for bringing this crime to light, Detective Nicholas
Halbherr of the Philadelphia Police Department for thoroughly
investigating this complex case, and Assistant District Attorney Gillian
Dagress, who assisted with the investigation, charged Mr. Fetherson, and will
be prosecuting the case. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office fully
intends to hold this defendant accountable for his brazen and corrupt actions.”
In
yet another case of elder abuse fraud, Pranav Patel, a New Jersey resident, was
sentenced to prison for his involvement in an elder fraud scheme.
On
June 11th in Tampa, Florida, U.S. District Judge William F. Jung sentenced
Patel to six years and three months in federal prison for conspiracy
to commit money laundering. The court also entered an order of forfeiture in
the amount of $1,791,301, the proceeds of the offense. Patel pleaded
guilty on December 23, 2024.
According
to court documents, between October and December 2023, Patel was involved
in a fraud scheme targeting senior citizens. Conspirators involved in the
scheme called from call centers abroad and fraudulently identified themselves
as government agents such as officers from the United States Department of the
Treasury. In some instances, the conspirators told victims that there were
outstanding warrants for their arrest, and they needed to pay to clear the
warrants. On other occasions, the conspirators told victims that they needed to
provide their money and gold to the officers for safekeeping.
“Patel
served as a money mule in the fraud scheme. He drove from New Jersey to pick up
money and gold from senior citizens in the Middle District of Florida and
elsewhere along the east coast of the United States. During the sentencing
hearing, one victim from whom Patel picked up fraud proceeds advised the court
that because of the scam, he was unable to afford his mortgage payments, had to
sell his house, and had to depend on Social Security benefits for all of his
living expenses,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida
stated.
“In
December 2023, Patel traveled to a residence in Hillsborough County to retrieve
what he believed was a box of gold. Unbeknownst to Patel, he did so while under
law enforcement surveillance, and Patel was promptly arrested after picking up
the box. In total, Patel laundered $1,791,301 as part of the fraud scheme.”
Robert
Engel, the U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge of the Tampa Field
Office, noted, “Preying on vulnerable, unsuspecting elderly victims to rob them
of their hard-earned money is despicable. Even worse, the defendant’s
co-conspirators posed as government agents to defraud victims of nearly $2
million, threatening them with arrest if they didn’t follow their demands.”
Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes an online Crime Beat column. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com.
Note: You can read my other Broad & Liberty pieces via the link below:
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