Online scams cost kupuna $10 million last year, FBI reports

More than 400 Hawaii residents over the age of 60 lost upward of $10 million to online criminals last year, with tech-support scams, extortion and phishing the most common schemes, according to a new FBI report.

Nationally, 92,371 seniors lost roughly $1.7 billion to online crime last year, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center’s Elder Fraud Annual Report released Tuesday. The average loss was $18,246, and 3,133 Americans over the age of 60 lost more than $100,000.

Noting that kupuna are “an extremely vulnerable group,” the FBI prioritized efforts to address elder fraud, said Steven Merrill, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Honolulu Division. He said fraudsters buy and trade lists with personal identifiable information to help other criminals contact potential victims.

In Hawaii, 408 people over the age of 60 fell victim to online crime in 2021, the most common being tech-support scams, the FBI report said. Forty-nine seniors here were duped by online criminals posing as technology- or customer-support personnel offering to help with problems that didn’t exist, such as viruses and hacked accounts.

In total, Hawaii residents lost $17.2 million to online crimes last year, with investment scams, romance cons and the illegal use of digital currency accounting for the largest financial swindles, according to the FBI.

The agency encourages people who suspect they are victims of elder fraud and their support networks to file complaints at ic3.gov or the DOJ’s Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11.