Inside the Scams Targeting Older Americans: How Do I Know if I am Being Scammed?

In this episode of the SeniorLivingGuide.com Podcast, host Darleen Mahoney is joined by Master Deputy Jeffrey Merry, Sun City Center Community Resource Deputy with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and AARP’s 2024 Fraud Fighter of the Year. Together, they take a deep dive into the world of scams targeting seniors—a pressing, ever-evolving issue with staggering financial and emotional impacts.

Master Deputy Merry explains the sophisticated and organized criminal networks behind today’s scams, shedding light on why seniors are rich targets and how bad actors use emotional manipulation to defraud them. 

With warmth and candor, Darleen Mahoney and Master Deputy Merry discuss practical prevention strategies. This episode also highlights trusted resources like AARP’s Fraud Watchdog Network, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), and the Federal Trade Commission, linking listeners directly to help and support.

SeniorLivingGuide.com Podcast sponsored by Best-Selling Author on Retirement, Tom Marks & TerraBella Senior Living.

The background music is written, performed, and produced exclusively by purple-planet.com.
https://www.purple-planet.com/

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Transcript

Darleen Mahoney [00:00:02]:

And today we are joined on the SeniorLivingGuide.com podcast by Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary with Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, where his career path led him to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office where he tackled assignments in patrol, district intelligence and a Homeland Security Investigation task force before assuming his current role as the Sun City Center Community Resource Deputy. His commitment to excellence is underscored by over 1000 hours of specialized fraud investigative training. Deputy Mary has received Several awards, including AARP's 2024 Fraud Fighter of the Year, IFCI President's Award, accommodations from MOA, MOW, the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners, the Florida House of Representatives, the Florida Senate and the United States Congress. Thanks for joining us today. Deputy MARY Absolutely, Darlene.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:01:04]:

I appreciate it.

Darleen Mahoney [00:01:05]:

Yeah. And maybe our listeners can maybe guess what we're going to talk about today, which is fraud.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:01:12]:

Fraud, definitely.

Darleen Mahoney [00:01:13]:

Yes. Which is rampant, rampant, rampant. And it's ever changing. I mean, that's a full time job just to kind of stay on top of what's hot and what's new in the fraud industry.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:01:25]:

Oh, absolutely. I attend two to three conferences a year just to make sure I know what's going on so that I can educate my community and educate seniors not only in Hillsborough county, but throughout the state of Florida on these types of frauds.

Darleen Mahoney [00:01:41]:

Yeah, absolutely. And Sun City is an area that is highly populated in the state of Florida for seniors. It's a great area if you want to come and retire. So you have a high constituency of seniors in that area.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:01:56]:

Absolutely. And most people will know of the villages, which is 125,000 seniors. Great place in Florida to retire. Sun City center is just a smaller version. We've only got about 30,000 residents, but the average age is 73. There's five neighborhoods, 13 assisted living facilities and 6,000 golf carts just for that little.

Darleen Mahoney [00:02:19]:

6,000 golf carts. Yes. And I am sure they are a hot market for fraudsters.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:02:25]:

Oh, absolutely. I mean, just, just reported to my, my office last year for that area was over $13 million worth of loss. And you know, that's why, that's why I'm here today with you is to, to talk about that because the numbers are, are staggering and it's only going up.

Darleen Mahoney [00:02:42]:

Yeah, yeah. And I'm so glad you are here to talk about it because we really do need to educate our seniors and educate those that care for seniors on, on, you know, what's out there as well. And then also if you do have a loved one that does get taken in, you know, really kind of how to manage it because it's, it's, it's really scary for them. It's hard for them. And if it does happen, you know, it's not something they should be embarrassed by. So it is something, you kind of have to navigate both ends of it. You know, the prevention. Then also afterwards, if, if it is something that they do, they, they do fall into that trap. So.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:03:17]:

Oh yeah, if they are victimized, it's, it's not just financial, but they typically emotionally and mentally victimized as well.

Darleen Mahoney [00:03:25]:

Yeah, 100%. So statistically, do you have numbers for just the state of Florida or just in general as far as, like, it's clearly growing and I think that people just can kind of understand that. And a lot of that I think is probably just based on just technology is allowing some of the.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:03:48]:

So the FBI in the FBI estimated that in 2024 seniors alone, just seniors. So 65 and up in the United States, seniors lost $64 billion to scams or schemes. And they estimated it through reports and other, other databases. But the biggest problem that we have with the number is it's not reported. Typically less than one in five seniors who are victimized and who lose financially don't report. You know, they're embarrassed to report it. They don't want people to know. They don't want their loved ones to know because they internalize it and feel like, I can't believe I was that gullible. I can't believe I fell for that. Which, you know, that's not the case. But you think about that. $64 billion every year out of, out of the senior's pocket, goes to the bad guys. That's a lot of money. And Florida is number one per capita as far as scam victims and number one per capita per instance as far as the financial loss. So, you know, if you take California out of the mix, basically Florida is number one in all the categories of senior fraud.

Darleen Mahoney [00:05:02]:

Yeah, that's disgusting. That's just terrible. So why do you think seniors are targeted?

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:05:10]:

So, and I give these presentations, but a lot, and what I tell people is, you know, once you hit the age 65, you are typically 1 in 3 times likely to be victimized by a scam. And then once you hit 85, it's 60% of that population will lose financially to a scam. And the reason being is the seniors have the money. What I like to tell people is, look, I'm just a working class guy. I've got two daughters. One of my daughters was out of state tuition so, you know, I'm absolutely broke, right? I mean, I have, I have no money. If a bad guy were to break into my checking account, he'd give me five bucks to feeling sorry for me. But, but however, and however, at the age of 66. So January 2nd, when I'm 66, I'm going to retire. Well, the moment I retire, I'm going to have access to the 401k that I've put money into. I'm going to have access to the deferred compensation to any IRAs, any Roth IRAs. My pension will then open up for me. You know, I will have all these accounts with all these available, this available money in it once I turn retirement age. That's what the bad guys want. You know, most people, we're paycheck to paycheck. What's the bad guy going to get from us? $100 here, $100 there, whereas they want your entire IRA. You know, we just had a victim last March, March of 2024. And in a month they victimized this person for over $700,000. They cleaned out their 401k with Ameriprise in one month. I don't have that. They can't, they can try all they want, but you know, that's blood from eternal. You know, so they come after our seniors because, you know, they've paid off most of their debt, so they have assets so they can liquefy or they can take loans against. And then they also have, you know, pensions and money markets and 401ks. That's what the bad guys want. I mean, they want, they want the money. And that's the, that's the easiest place. It's not necessarily the easiest. I don't mean to say it like that, but that's where, that's where it is. That's who has it. And just a little tidbit. Sun City center is only like two miles as a two mile stretch of road and there's 18 banks and investment houses in that, in that little two mile stretch. Well, there's no other conglomeration of wealth in Hillsborough county like that. And Hillsborough county's got over 3 million people. But you know, the banks know that the seniors have the money and that's where it is. And so the bad guys, then, you know, that's who they target is those seniors.

Darleen Mahoney [00:07:53]:

Yeah, that. My blood boils listening to that because these people have worked their whole lives to save this money. They've, they've invested in it, they've wisely used it they, you know, they've probably penny pinched, they've done without so that they can retire and they can retire, you know, securely knowing that there's a possibility they need to go into an assisted living, possibly they may need extended care. If there's anyone that gets sick with cancer, any type of long term illnesses or Alzheimer's or dementia or any of those types of things so that they're secure and they, they pinch pennies, they, you know, they eat, you know, great value brands, they do all these different things. And then they also probably want to put some money aside for their grandchildren or their children as well, so they're properly investing. And then somebody comes in and they have the OD audacity to think that just because they want it, they can have it and they can just take it because they just want it. I mean, it's disgusting.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:08:57]:

Yeah. And they absolutely do. The. I've been, I've been the community resource deputy for almost 11 years now. It'll be 11 years in April. And I, we've had victims of $1.6 million, $1.25 million. I had one victim that was victimized for $2.3 million. And they, the bad guys will take every single last dime. And to the point to where you know, people have to move back in with family, they have to sell it. They can't live, you know, they can't live their golden years like they want to. You know, they had a plan and now because of these bad actors, they can't, they can't follow out that plan. They can't live out that plan anymore.

Darleen Mahoney [00:09:41]:

Yeah, I believe in a special version of karma for those folks. So you just have to wait on that karma. Sometimes that karma is the law. And I'm down with that too, so.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:09:55]:

Absolutely, absolutely.

Darleen Mahoney [00:09:57]:

So we'll take that. So a little bit about the criminal organizations. What's the money spent for the con? I mean, exactly what is that?

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:10:09]:

Okay, so it's no longer, no longer is it like some guy in his mother's basement that's perpetrating these, these frauds. Now these frauds are actual organized crime. And it is, it is mobsters throughout the world, you know, in non, typically in non extradition countries like Ghana and Jamaica and, and Nigeria especially. And we hear a lot out of Nigeria and the Ukraine, places like that, but it's, it's terrorist criminal organizations. And they use this, you know, in furtherance of their organization. I mean we're, we're talking $64 billion in a single year. And what I'VE learned over the past couple years is like, there's a group and they're in kind of the demilitarized zone between. Between Taiwan and China, and it's basically a little city. And they will actually have therapists come and train their call takers to emotionally manipulate victims, teach them how to really get that emotional manipulation, how to really set that, that, that hook, if you will, into the victim to get them. Because normally most of us are not going to. To send money, right? And the way. The way the bad guys do it, the way they. They get you, is to make you emotional. Because rationally, we all know that. We all understand that you don't send your money, you know, to the government, you don't send your money on, you know, romance scams, grandparents scams. We all know it. And even victims know that, and that's why they internalize it so much. So the bad guys, they have to get you emotional so they can manipulate you and that they'll hire therapists to teach their people. And then there's another group that's run out of Africa, and they actually hire models. Like, once a month, they fly in a bunch of male and female models to do videos and do FaceTimes on the roam. And they predominantly do romance games. So, you know, they hire the models for a couple, you know, days and then use their face in videos and overlays and, you know, AI generated things later. You know, this is. This is actually the person that, you know, loves you and wants to visit you and wants to be together when. No, you know, they just hired that person for a few hours to make a few videos, make a couple voiceovers and things like that. But I mean, again, it's criminal organizations and they spend money to make money. You know, they spend it in software, they spend it in training. They spend it on, like I said, models and therapists to try to emotionally break someone down so that they will send them money.

Darleen Mahoney [00:12:57]:

Yeah. Well, so what are some prevalent scams that are going on right now? I know that I have been contacted about not coming to some kind of special jury duty. And it comes from a sheriff that's not actually our sheriff, and. And a phone number that's not our zip and that's not our area code. So I'm like, scam, but. And it's happened multiple times, but I don't fall for it. But that could be easily. And it's just click on a number. I mean, it's. You're supposed to click on it, and that could be somebody that would Have a panic and just, poof, click on it. So I don't even know what the click would do, but that's something I've recently seen just for myself.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:13:40]:

Yes. And that's. So. That's. So each of these. Each of these scams, you're going to see an emotional component, and that's how they get you. And with the jury duty scam, and we've actually seen this a lot in Hillsborough county, where the bad guys will research sheriff's offices and see who, like, is the major or the. Who's the commander of the civil unit. And so then. Then they'll spoof their phones and they'll show that they're. We've seen it. Where they show that they're calling from the sheriff's office even though they're not. And they'll say, hey, this is captain Morris or, you know, Major Brown or sergeant Smith. And if you go look them up on our website, that's actually a real, you know, sergeant or major or captain. And then over the phone it says, you know, hillsborough County Sheriff's office or wherever you might be. But, you know, then they say, hey, you missed jury duty. I've got a warrant for contempt of court for you missing jury duty signed by the judge who you miss jury duty for. Well, we don't want to go to court. We don't want to go to jail. I don't want to be picked up and taken to jail, especially over something like that. Was there anything else I can do? What else can I. How can we take care of this? Oh, well. Well, all you got to do is you can go in to the system. And this is how. This is what they tell them. Just go into the system, put in there that you missed your jury duty. It'll set you another jury duty date. But you're going to have to do a cash bond to make sure that you show up for your second date and that. That's the hook and that's how they. And yeah, like, if they send it to you via text, what it does is it kicks you right to that portal that is your Schedule your next date and submit your cash bond proving that you'll be at your next date. And so it sounds legitimate, seems legitimate, and they make it as legitimate and as fearful as possible. You know, they will definitely put the screws into you about, look, we're going to come and we're going to come to your home and we're going to pick you up and we're going to take you to our jail. And you know, you're going to go through booking and eat jail food and not a good experience. So that, that's very scary that fear component. And that's, that's under that government impersonation that we, we see a lot of, of government impersonation scams right now. There's a lot of text messages going out about Peach Pass and Sun Pass and different toll payments where they're going to, you know, suspend your toll payment and even suspend your license because you owe a toll. We've seen, we have also seen them where you didn't pay a ticket and they're going to suspend your license and issue a bench warrant for failure to appear because you didn't pay some ticket. And you know, again, those are, those are fear mongering so that they're trying to make you emotional and just elicit money out of you, get money out of you.

Darleen Mahoney [00:16:32]:

And the reality is those types of issues would most likely come in the form of mail, official mail, and then in an email that you've signed up for where it connects to your actual account. So I mean, to get a text. I am always very leery of text messages and I think that that's, you know, just a good standard of practice. Anytime you see a text message that you don't know who it's from. I don't click on anything on a text message.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:17:04]:

Definitely don't click on anything in a text message or even in an email if you don't know exactly who it's from.

Darleen Mahoney [00:17:10]:

100%. Yeah. Oh yeah, 100%. Or attachments that are in an email. Don't open an attachment in an email.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:17:18]:

No, definitely not. Unless, you know, is sending you a photo or a PDF otherwise absolutely, you know, stay away from those. And yeah, I think we've got, you know, we'll get back to the scams. But so just so that people can recognize what I like to like to give a little example because I'm going to harp on this emotional aspect because the moment you feel somebody, you know, invoking an emotion in you, like fear or urgency, you know, and then asking money if you know it's kind of, if you know it, if you're educated about it, you can usually recognize it. And in each and every one of these, you know, it's an emotional component of manipulation. I always, I always like to tell people it's kind of like when you go to a car lot and buy a new car that, you know, they don't want to talk to you about price or payment or down Payment at first. You know, they want to put you in that brand new vehicle, right? That nice new big vehicle that smells good and has all the buttons and all the bells and whistles. And you know, meanwhile, you're looking at your piece of junk that you drove in and you're like, this is really nice. Well, why are they, why do they do that? Well, it's to emotionally attach you to that vehicle. Because if they get you, if the salesman knows that you're emotionally attached to that vehicle, you'll pay a little more, you'll pay a little more a month. You'll pay, you know, you'll pay a little more down payment, you'll pay a couple extra months because you really like that car. You know, it's got that new car smell and you know, your phone works in it and all the good stuff. And that's, that's the kind of manipulation that all these scams prey on is, is some sort of a piece of your emotion to try to get you either, get you to be fearful like we talked about, we're going to take you to jail, or the next one is the romance scam. You know, where, oh, you know, you're my person and we're going to take cruises together and you know, they align. And what's really bad with the romance scam is it's so deeply emotional. We see them where they'll take 6 to 8 to 12 months just to, just to create the illusion of an actual relationship, of an actual relationship and then ask for money. So, you know, they've pulled on the heartstrings and they've talked a good game and they've even, they've even gone on social media and crafted themselves to be your perfect person or somebody that aligns with your values and, and has grandkids or, you know, likes to take cruises or, you know, likes to go to Greece or, you know, things like that. They'll align all that stuff so that you're really emotionally invested before they ask for that first dollar. And those are, those are especially nefarious because someone lost not only, you know, a friend and a possible, you know, spouse or partner, but then financially as well. And we see it, we see a lot of those.

Darleen Mahoney [00:20:18]:

Yeah, what's really, for me, the romance scams are so heartbreaking because a lot of times they're widowed or divorced or they're empty nesters and they're very lonely and they take what little bit of money they have, even if it is a lot of money. It's all that they have. Left. But it's not only preying on them emotionally, it's, it's preying on their self esteem is plain. It's preying on them, you know, all the different things that affect you as a human being.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:20:55]:

Yes.

Darleen Mahoney [00:20:56]:

And as a woman or even as a man. Because men definitely are affected by the romance scams as well, I'm sure. Is it about half? Okay. But I, I feel like it absolutely has to, it has a lifelong effect on you. And I would bet, and I could be wrong, you probably have the statistics on this, but the romance scam is probably one that people absolutely keep that mom afterwards more than probably any other scam, they don't share.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:21:27]:

Well, that and also that's one of the hardest ones to convince victims. I've had several of them and I've got a few of them ongoing right now where I have, you know, sat in the victim's den and I, I had, I had one victim and they sent their property tax money. I mean they, they were down to nothing and even sent their property tax money and you know, because they didn't believe that it was a, it was a scam that this person, no, this person loves me. They're coming to get me. They're going to be here. And another one, I was in an assisted living for over an hour and a half talking to a victim and I was like, look, this is not happening. This, you know, they've continually had an issue meeting you and that's because, you know, it's all about the money. And the moment you stop sending money, guess what, all the attention that you get is going to go away. But you know, they have, they've prayed on their, every bit of their, you know, some sometimes loneliness they've preyed on, you know, they've crafted the perfect person for them. And we all want the, we want, we all want to live happily ever after.

Darleen Mahoney [00:22:32]:

Absolutely.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:22:33]:

And it's, but it's, I mean, that one's rough. We've got some therapists on staff and some or licensed clinicians. And I usually have to send them after I visit just to kind of help them through the process. And then I know a few, I know a few actual therapists that deal with only victims of scams. They're not local, but I'll usually send the links and there's those websites to the loved ones because what they're gonna, what they've got to go through because they're going to grieve the loss of their money and the loss of this person, you know, they After a year. Y' all are dating after a year. This, this is a, a firm person in your life.

Darleen Mahoney [00:23:16]:

Yeah. And any self esteem you have left.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:23:20]:

Yes.

Darleen Mahoney [00:23:20]:

Yeah. So I've. The term pig butchering, what is that? That's a scam. What is that? Is that a new scam or.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:23:32]:

So it's, it's about three to four years old that we've seen. And it's come about with, with crypto, with cryptocurrency. And so the lead in to the scam can be one of, of many different things. What we typically see is one of your friends contacts you on Facebook and talks to you, but it's really not your friend. It's somebody who has cloned their account or, or hijacked or stolen their social media account. And just through innocuous, you know, everyday conversation, they say, hey, you know, I've started investing into crypto. Okay. And you'll ignore it. And then a couple days later, hey, man, did you see the other day the market, the crypto market? I made eight grand just in the last week and a half. Okay, great, whatever. Well, after a few, you know, just little hints, if you will, then they're like, okay, well, well, how did you get into it? Oh, I got a broker and I just started with like $200, but the United States economy is so inconsistent right now. I started putting a little more over there and I'm getting some really great returns and gains. Oh, okay. So then eventually they link them to a broker. Well, then the broker sends them a website. They sign up on the website, they put, they wire money in, and it shows that they have a 200 cryptocurrency account and they go buy, you know, how many ever of whatever, cryptocurrencies, because there's a lot of cryptocurrencies. So then the account shows that, okay, a week later, that 200 bucks is now like $800. So the broker then sends a message, hey, you've done really well. Do we want to put a little more in here? Yeah, absolutely. Of course, this has done better than my, you know, 401k or what money market, whatever I've got out there. Put a little more. Oh, look at this. It's going up and up and up. It's kind of like the old pump and dump where they get them. And this was our, this was our victim back In March, the $700,000 in a month, you know, but they can log in and look and see that the account's doing great and it's, you know, the what they've bought in matches up if, even if they look online, okay, Bitcoin is, that's the correct cost for bitcoin. But then when there's no more money, that website evaporates, it's gone.

Darleen Mahoney [00:25:58]:

So they just keep investing, investing because they think it's growing and growing and it's all fake.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:26:04]:

Yep. And once the broker, once the, once the scammers, once the bad guys, the bad actors realize that they're not going to get any more money, they shut down the website and it was all, it was all just made up, it was all just Internet.

Darleen Mahoney [00:26:17]:

Because it's not actually a broker, it's a fraudster.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:26:20]:

No, it's all 100%, it's a fraudster. It's all a scheme. And you know, we've, we've found out that several, if you do like a Google search for a crypto broker, you know, we found out that several of those results that come back are illegitimate. They're scammers. They just want you to sign up, start pushing money in, and then eventually it disappears with all of your hard earned money.

Darleen Mahoney [00:26:44]:

Crazy. Crazy. So I know that the old tried and true fraud that's out there is the tech support scam. Is that something, I feel like a lot of people have kind of caught on to that one. Is that one less successful, do you think?

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:27:01]:

No. And the reason being is in the last few months, the bad guys have figured out how to hijack our devices. Oh yeah. So we've had instances where your phone comes up with a screen that says your phone's been compromised. Your iPad's been, you know, used to be just your laptop and your desktop. Well, now that they've figured out our devices, we're seeing an increase in it since they figured out how to. Because this is our lifeblood. You know, some, a thing comes over your phone. Well, we didn't know, we, we didn't realize the bad guys could do it, but now they can. So it's definitely, you know, coming back around. But again, it's not your laptop, it's not your desktop, it's your, you know, it's your phone. It's your, we've seen it phone and we've seen it on a watch, we've seen it on a tablet. I mean, they're getting very sophisticated in their ability to be able to take over those devices and then basically hold them ransom against you.

Darleen Mahoney [00:28:03]:

So is there a way? So, so we now know what it is. Is there a way, if someone sees that, where they can stop it or are they just. Are they just toast?

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:28:14]:

No, no, no. Typically what you can do if your device is hijacked and or does tell you, hey, you got a virus call, call a number, click on a link, power the, power it down, let it stay off for a good 15 to 30 seconds, and then power it back up. Because typically the boot scans will remove any connection, will remove any devices, will remove most of, most of the bad and nefarious things on it.

Darleen Mahoney [00:28:41]:

Okay, good to know. Are there any devices, especially with like the mobile devices, the mobile phones and things like that that are more or less. I mean, are Apple's more susceptible versus Sam's Androids?

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:28:56]:

So we've seen more in the, in the Android phones than we have the iPhones, but the iPhones aren't completely immune.

Darleen Mahoney [00:29:05]:

I knew you were going to say that. It's because I have an Android. I will be honest. I was asking for my own personal.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:29:12]:

Reference on there that says, you know, you've been hacked or you know your phone's got a virus or anything like that. Just turn it off and turn it back on.

Darleen Mahoney [00:29:22]:

Yeah. So very big rule of thumb, don't click on things. Don't click. Don't click on your website and your emails, your text messages, website, anything. Don't click. Yeah, very good rule of thumb. So I do want to cover. And I know that we've done a previous podcast, but the Grandparent Scam, I'm actually quite familiar with that, especially with the AI. And it is the voiceover or the AI voice that sounds.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:29:56]:

We've actually seen. Exactly, we've seen it. Now. We've had. We've had a couple instances here where they've actually used video and they've done a FaceTime call or a voice or a video conference call. Because our jail actually does video calls. Well, now, and I talked to a guy who went to a hackers conference back in October, and he said that they now only need 70 seconds of video of somebody and that AI, generative AI programs, he said they're learning faster than anything that we knew and said that they only need about 70 seconds of video of someone put it into an AI program and then it can make a video call. And like the ones that we've seen is it pops up and says, hillsborough County Sheriff's Office booking, you know, except phone or Orient Road jail, except the video call. And you do. And then it's your loved one crying and you see booking in the background and they're saying, hey, you know, I need $7,000 for bond, get me out of here. Get me out of here. And that's. So, you know, yes, we've had the grandparents scam. It's been around for ages and we almost got rid of it. We were pretty much done. Most people had. But now if you get that over your phone, you know, that's a whole, that's a whole different world. And, you know, what we've told people is, you know, family passwords. We've basically had to come to that because otherwise, you know, even the hacker said that in, in probably eight months, you will not be able to tell the difference between your loved one and one of those AI generated, you know, video calls.

Darleen Mahoney [00:31:37]:

They're going to have to put. They're going to have to figure out a way to start putting some kind of restrictions on some of the AI, especially with the video that's impersonating. I mean, they're just going to have to figure something out because it's.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:31:49]:

I mean, yeah, we all know somebody that sent us a video and said, oh my gosh. And then you're like, no, that one's kind of fake. But in a year, we're not going to be able, we're not. I mean, no one's going to be able to tell.

Darleen Mahoney [00:32:01]:

Yeah, I've watched some videos and it does take me a minute. I'm like going, no, that's not real. When it's somebody talking that you're familiar with and you're like, I don't.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:32:11]:

It's their accent and words they use. That's all they need. Is that 77?

Darleen Mahoney [00:32:15]:

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:32:17]:

That one's nefarious.

Darleen Mahoney [00:32:19]:

It's, it's crazy. It's absolutely the, the safe word, the password, the family password, that is the way to go to protect yourself from those scams. Because I don't think people really realize until it happens that they can do that. And I just knew the voice, the voice is, is dead on, absolutely dead on, that your son, your daughter, your grandchild can call you and you're having a phone conversation and you think you're on the phone with that loved one. And the reality is it is not them. And it's, it, it messes with your brain because it's just, it's the, the bait and switch just doesn't seem normal. It's just, it's very difficult to comprehend that that's actually really happening. And for especially older seniors, especially any senior that has any kind of cognitive issues, any kind of cognitive decline, that's really got to be very, very difficult. For them to, to wrap their brains around for sure. But now you're adding video to it. Come on.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:33:20]:

AI is definitely going. AI is going to ramp up a lot of these scams and help them not only get much more selective targets, still seniors, but you know, different. You know, all right, which seniors have more money, they'll absolutely go after and then be able to pull those emotional strings a lot harder, for sure.

Darleen Mahoney [00:33:39]:

Oh, my gracious. So let's some resources. I know that you worked for aarp. We partner with AARP quite a bit and we know that they have some incredible resources and fraud is one of them.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:34:56]:

Okay. And we're going to include these links in the description of the podcast. So I'll have these links. If you just heard that, you'll be able to just look in the description. You'll be able to click, click on those in order to take you a little bit further so that you can do some research. I did want to ask you one question. I know that, you know, I'm all, all about solutions. I mean, we can hear about all the, all the different, different types of fraud that's going on, the scams, et cetera. But the romance one, it seems to be a hard one to avoid. If you're doing any kind of online dating, would your recommendation if you are old, I don't want people to not online date or to find romance if they been widowed or if they're single, I want them to be able to do something to make that connection and not be super, super afraid. Do you think that they should include other people in their life that they care about their children or their grandchildren when they start doing that process? So there's like that same second that there's that balance in that check. I mean if they're not an in person person that they're meeting, that's like at the local coffee shop.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:36:00]:

So what, what I recommend is the red flag is asking for money. Go online. Go online, be a part of social media, you know, be a part of, you know, putting yourself out there, finding somebody else or finding friends. Because some of these aren't romance, some of these are friendship. You know, they just drum up a friendship and then hit you for money. The moment someone asks for money, if you haven't met them in the flesh, get away from them. And that should be the moment that you realize that you need to close off all communication, block them and, and move on. And I know that's going to be hard because like I said, they will invest, you know, six months, eight months a year. I think the longest one I've seen is about 11 months before they asked for a dollar. And that's very difficult to do when you're emotionally involved in that whatever type of relationship. But that's the cue, the moment money is asked for. And if you want to know more about that one, Netflix has got a really good three part series on it where they had three women from Europe who were victimized and then one of them, one of them lost a million and a half dollars being victimized by the romance scam. And they go through it really well and Talk about the FaceTime videos and the love bombing and you know, the type of things that they would, you know, asking to co mingle funds, you know, just kind of the different tricks that the bad guys use to suck that money out of you to elicit that money.

Darleen Mahoney [00:37:35]:

I did watch that and one of the things that I did want to notate as well is that if there is misspellings in like English or, you know, that doesn't maybe make sense. That sounds like maybe it's broken English and you're talking to someone that that shouldn't be the case. That might be a red flag because I think that that can be an issue if you're talking with someone specifically in Nigeria. I think that that was kind of.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:38:00]:

The, the yes, but that's gonna, AI see, AI is going to clean a lot of that up.

Darleen Mahoney [00:38:05]:

So Are they fixing that?

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:38:07]:

Yeah. So, you know, just be, Try, Try to be rational, and if you see a red flag, don't ignore it. But that.

Darleen Mahoney [00:38:16]:

Don't ignore it.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:38:16]:

Anybody?

Darleen Mahoney [00:38:17]:

Yeah, yeah. For anything. Yes, yes, yes, exactly. Oh, my gosh.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:38:22]:

I know we're, I know we're. We're running low on time, but so my biggest, the biggest piece of advice that I give everybody and it's the easiest thing is to verify. To verify, verify, verify. If law enforcement calls you and says you've got a warrant, you say, okay, great, I'll take care of it. Hang up on them and you call your local law enforcement. If Publishers Clearinghouse says that you won $2.2 million, you can go to Publishers Clearinghouse website to see if you've won. Now, my joke is I check it every morning before I come to work, see if I've got to come to work. But, you know, verify. If your granddaughter calls you from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office jail or wherever, whatever jail, call her, text her, reach out to you. You know, verify. If your bank sends you a text message saying that you know your debit card was compromised, you call the number on the back of your card. You know, don't take what's given to you. You reach out and verify in some way. If a. A friend on social media says, hey, you know, I'm. I'm invested into crypto, or I've got this. We. We saw Covid grants or, you know, easily obtained PPP loans during that time, you know, and it was usually a friend's social media that was hijacked. Reach out and ask them. You know, just take. We're. We're the microwave generation. We want things instantaneously. But just take that 60 seconds just to verify. And it'll keep you. It'll keep you out, all of every single bit of it. It will absolutely keep you out.

Darleen Mahoney [00:39:59]:

So quick question you'd mentioned. If someone calls you and said that they've been arrested, they're in jail. Can't you go to the website? Don't they. I know in the state of Florida we have the Sunshine Law. Everything is like an open book here. But I don't know if it's like that everywhere. And I know that our podcast listeners. I got our report on 2025. We are all over the nation, so it's pretty, pretty incredible that our listening span is so large. But don't you. Once someone is booked into jail, doesn't that, Isn't that public record everywhere where you can pull up the website and there it is.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:40:28]:

No, it's not public record everywhere. Previously, I was a deputy in Georgia, and we didn't have that. So it just depends on the sunshine laws within your state as to whether you can do that. So, you know, like I said, just try to reach out. You know, text them while you're on the phone. Hey, are you alive? Hey, are you? Now, that'll be the one time they probably don't answer, but at least, you know, reach out and try that verification process. And like I said, that that goes with pretty much any of these. Any of these scams. You know, if a crypto, you find a crypto broker, you can go look them up. They have to still be licensed. So, you know, verify, verify, verify. Ronald Reagan said it best.

Darleen Mahoney [00:41:10]:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. This was a great conversation. I learned so much. I hope our listeners took some good notes. And as we kind of mentioned in the very beginning before we sign off, if you do fall, you know, to one of these scams, do not be embarrassed. Definitely report it, because reporting is how we're going to be able to stop it.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:41:31]:

Yes. Don't be. Look, you have been victimized, all right? You weren't. You weren't gullible. You didn't fall for it. Look, they know what they're doing to get you to send them money. So understand that you're the victim. And the only way that we can help you, your family can help you, or anybody can help you, is to come forward and say, I was victimized. Now, let's work on this together.

Darleen Mahoney [00:41:54]:

Yeah, absolutely. Please report it and your loved ones will understand. I promise that they will. Well, I can't promise anything, but I hope that they will understand, you know, because it can really, honestly happen to really anyone. Anyone.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:42:08]:

And it does. Yeah.

Darleen Mahoney [00:42:10]:

And it does. It does. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. We really learned so much. And I'm going to include the links that you recommended for people that are looking for resources to learn more about fraud or if they need to report it or whatever. They want to learn more about the latest scams like pig butchering that are out there, that type of thing on the description. And again, thank you for joining us. If you enjoyed this podcast, please check us out. We're available anywhere you consume or listen to podcasts or music. Again, thank you for listening.

Master Deputy Jeffrey Mary [00:42:44]:

Thank you.