PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. (WSVN) - State officials are calling for action against the rise of scammers targeting Florida’s elderly residents.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier joined state officials at Pembroke Pines’ Southwest Focal Point community on Thursday to speak about the concerning rise in scams targeting elderly residents.
While they said a lot has already been done to combat the flood of scammers, more work remains.
Uthmeier proposed legislation that would allow officials to investigate and shut down spam calls and texts bombarding Floridians.
“Right now, if somebody is fraudulently sending text messages to unwanted recipients, it’s often just prosecuted as a misdemeanor,” said Uthmeier.
He also suggested prosecutors elevate fraudulent calls and texts to a felony charge.
“If there’s groups out there that are pretending to be affiliated with government agencies, with law enforcement bodies, you all need to know about it,” said Uthmeier.
Officials highlighted several types of scams they believe the public needs to know about.
Some of those scams pose as jury duty warnings and alerts of an active arrest warrant.
“Law enforcement doesn’t typically tip you off when they have a warrant for your arrest. They just show up, and they execute that warrant,” said Taylor Chatting, a prosecutor with the state’s Cyber Fraud Enforcement Unit.
Other scammers try to pass themselves off as IRS representatives, warning victims that they owe taxes and demanding immediate payment.
“If there’s an issue with your taxes, the IRS will contact you by mail. The IRS is not going to call you, they’re not going to text you, and they are certainly not going to reach out to you on any social media platform,” said Chatting.
One such victim of these bogus deals is Ileana Ferrera.
She shared how she was duped by a deal that was presented as paying for a year’s worth of cable service up front with gift cards.
“I fell for it. They were very professional; they were – knew most of her information, so it was like I had no red flags going off in my head that something would be wrong, but, of course, it was,” said Ferrera.
While many scams try to trick you into voluntarily giving out personal information, others try to access your devices to steal untold amounts of information.
These technical support scams often involve someone posing as an employee for a large company and convincing their targets to give them remote access to their computer.
“If you receive a call such as that, hang up the phone, go to the company’s legitimate website and call them directly so that you can verify the authenticity of those demands,” said Chatting.
With the rapid advancement of technology, Chatting said these schemes have evolved, utilizing more complex methods to deceive countless more people.
“Scammers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to impersonate law enforcement officials, financial professionals, romance partners, friends and even your family,” said Chatting.
Ferrera said her pitfall has been a painful lesson: be cautious of any absurd deal made over the phone.
“When it’s too good to be true, it’s usually not true, so be careful, watch who you answer to and how you manage your phone calls or texts coming from different places,” said Ferrera.
Uthmeier said if the Florida Anti-Spam Communications Act becomes law in the Sunshine State, it would empower prosecutors to put the worst offenders in prison.
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