DATE: July 17, 2018
Law Enforcement Agencies received training on West African organized fraud
Earlier today, The North Georgia Elder Abuse Task Force (NGEATF) hosted elder abuse fraud training at the Marietta Police Department. The forum included investigators representing twelve city, state and federal agencies. The keynote speaker, United States Postal Inspector (USPI) Keith Speers, educated the thirty investigators about various ways criminal organizations operating out of Nigeria and other West African countries have targeted elderly victims living in our jurisdictions. Speers presented several ways our local agencies can work with the USPIS and other Federal agencies to investigate complex fraud cases in the metro Atlanta area. Assistant United States Attorney Brian Pearce attended and shared his recommendations from a prosecutorial standpoint. Both Speers and Pearce focused on how a local agency may be called into the middle of a complex scenario. They provided valuable information about steps local law enforcement must take in order to build a successful case against organized crime groups operating transnationally.
While large amounts of the information presented is law enforcement sensitive, both Speers and Pearce emphasized the importance of pushing the message out about elder abuse in the form of financial fraud. They both stated they have seen in increase in the number of reported cases involving both the “romance” scam as well as the “jailed grandchild” scam. In the romance scam, men and women are recruited to befriend unsuspecting elderly residents via email or social media and develop a relationship on-line. Once a relationship has been formed, they will begin to plead for money from the elderly victim. Often the scammer is more than thirty years younger than the unsuspecting victim. Deposits are then made back to the parent organization funding further scams. By the time authorities are notified, the victim has often given away thousands of dollars. In the case of the “jailed grandchild,” the scammer will call and state the victim’s grandchild is in jail in another country and needs cash immediately in order to bond out.
NGEATF organizes regular gatherings of law enforcement investigators in order to share information and increase awareness about current fraud, neglect and abuse cases happening in the region.
The Marietta Police Department is grateful for the information presented as well as the many agencies who sent their investigators today. The fraud education we received from NGEATF and the USPIS will help each of our agencies combat financial elder abuse. We remain committed to investigate all reports of all types of elder abuse. It is crucial for family members to call 911 and report suspicious circumstances involving potential elderly or at-risk adult abuse. Without the public’s help, some of this type of crime will go unnoticed. We urge the public to help us protect our elderly residents who may fall victim to these types of scams.
