‘It impacts almost every family’: Rick Scott roundtable spotlights senior fraud, exploitation

The Florida Senator who chairs the Committee on Aging is warning older people that they are prone to being ripped off amid a “growing threat of scams, fraud and financial exploitation.”

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott led a roundtable in Doral where he and other stakeholders offered examples of how scammers target the unwary and suggested ways to avoid being conned.

“Whether it’s a phone call from someone posing as a grandchild in trouble, a suspicious investment scheme delivered through the mail, or an email from a government impost threatening jail time, these criminals are targeting our seniors with increasing sophistication. And I think it impacts almost every family,” Scott said.

“Our seniors are often especially vulnerable to this kind of fraud. Sadly, for many older Americans, falling victim to a scam doesn’t just mean losing money, it can also mean losing peace of mind, trust in others and confidence in themselves.”

Many of the “large-scale operations run from call centers” are from foreign countries, such as China, constituting a “national security concern,” Scott added.

“Embarrassed” seniors often don’t report these rip-offs, Scott said, exacerbating the problem.

And the Senator has been preyed on himself by scammers, he revealed.

“Somebody called me. They left a message … somebody at the White House. Sounds just like them,” Scott said, not divulging more details for the moment.

Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz noted that threats are becoming more sophisticated all the time, creating a “moral responsibility” for government to step up while older Americans learn how to sidestep spam emails and robocalls that leave them “embarrassed, isolated and afraid.”

“Awareness and prevention can make all the difference,” the Sheriff said.

She urged stronger penalties for these crimes as a deterrent.

AARP Florida State Director Jeff Johnson said fraud in America is at “crisis levels,” with people over 60 losing retirement savings and homes to rip-off artists. One man lost more than $400,000 “in a matter of seconds” as his account was drained immediately after selling his house, leaving him on the verge of homelessness as a result.

Florida Bankers Association CEO Kathy Kraninger described bankers “on the front line” in the battle against this “national crisis” that saw a third of Americans having reported scams over the most recent year for which there are records.

“It’s a game of numbers. The sheer volume and number of attempts means more success for the bad guys,” Kraninger said.

Brandy Bauer, who is the Joint Center Director for the State Health Insurance Assistance Program Technical Assistance Center Senior Medicare Patrol National Resource Center, said her organization’s mission was to target Medicare fraud, a “particularly insidious” mode where false billing and other nefarious practices don’t just rip off individuals, but taxpayers writ large.

People can often be billed for items and services they never used or received due to manipulation of member numbers, with costs estimated as “tens of billions of dollars.”

Expensive, high-margin equipment, like urinary catheters and glucose monitoring equipment, often ends up erroneously billed.

This imperils health care in ways far beyond the immediate impact.

“The more the system is scammed, the less solvent it’s going to be,” Bauer said.