Navigating elder fraud as scams persist in Colorado
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Note: This story is the result of a partnership between Rocky Mountain PBS and journalism students at the University of Denver.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — 86-year-old Beverly Russman’s house phone rings like clockwork. She answers every call to keep in touch with friends and family, but multiple times per day, an unfamiliar voice speaks on the other end of the line — a voice that comes with devastating news.
In one call last year, an unknown number notified her of an unpaid invoice and urged her to immediately visit the nearest ATM. If she did not withdraw thousands of dollars, her information would be compromised.
Russman rushed into her 2011 Toyota Camry and started for the nearest bank.
“They want you to get in the car, keep your phone on, and keep them posted of where you are,” she said.
Russman says the person on the phone is usually a younger man, presumably calling from India, who gets “less nice” the longer she keeps them waiting.
As she neared the ATM, doubt set in but the man urged her to remain in her vehicle and not speak to anyone inside to complete the withdrawal.
“I’m not going to do that,” she said. “I get out to talk to someone because I’m very nervous. I think they were targeting all kinds of elderly people.”
For Russman, the instinct to notify a bank teller, who urged her to ignore the scammer’s instructions, might have saved her thousands of dollars. Russman has gone to the bank three other times during scam calls in the last few years. When she doesn’t go inside the bank, she calls her daughter, Julie, to talk her out of withdrawing money.
Video: Michael Cheuvront, University of Denver
According to the FBI, seniors in the United States often have good credit, own a home and maintain a healthy savings account, making them prime targets for financial scammers.
The most recent Elder Fraud Report, compiled by the FBI in 2023, lists Colorado as seventh in nationwide complaints. Scammers stole more than $54 million from seniors that year.
Russman, who lives alone in the patio home she’s rented for a decade, recalled an instance that dates back nearly 20 years.
“I remember the phone ringing,” she said. “This person says ‘Hi Grandpa, this is Todd,’ who is our grandson,” she said. “‘I’m in Canada. I got in trouble, and I need some money.’”
Russman and her late husband, Gale, hung up the phone and immediately contacted their grandson’s real phone number. They learned then that the call was a hoax.
The Consumer Federation of America calls this the “Grandparent Scam” and says callers get personal information, like phone numbers and names of relatives, from obituaries, social networking sites, and email contact lists. At the time of this scam, selecting a victim entailed nothing more than opening a random page in the phone book.
But today, Russman has a smartphone, which brings an entirely new layer of deception. Instead of just calls on a landline, scammers now have the ability to reach victims through fake advertisements and social media.
The only apps on Russman’s phone are Solitaire and Facebook — both of which swarmed with advertisements taking advantage of people like her.
In Solitaire, for example, a pop-up within the app insists that her phone’s data has been leaked. On Facebook, she receives friend requests from fake accounts at least once a week, many of them impersonating her friends in real life.
Russman’s daughter says she’s thankful her mother still calls when something seems suspicious. “I tell her a million times that these [scams] are fake, but her first instinct is always to believe them,” she said. “I’m worried about the day she doesn’t ask me before sending money.”
Victims of elder fraud can submit a report to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), though it does not provide compensation directly. Impacted individuals must still fight their case through civil legal action.
“Elderly people can be gullible,” said Russman. “I’ve had so many of these that I’ve learned now to be careful.”
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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