By Stuart Best and Sara Costanzo
An attractive stranger with a fake name and profile photo reaches out online and strikes up a connection. He/she sends messages daily. The stranger quickly profess his/her love for you. The stranger builds up a sense of trust. Then, the trap is set.
The stranger start asking for money for various fabricated reasons and pressures you to act quickly. Requests for personal information like your Social Security number, bank account information, credit card numbers, home address, or date of birth is requested. The stranger may even encourage you to keep the relationship a secret.
While tech-savvy internet users can often sniff out such scams because they are well-versed in common red flags displayed in these types of scams - such as minimal online presence, fake or AI-generated photos, luxurious lifestyles, and excuses to be unavailable to video chat - other internet users may not be as well-versed in these red flags. The latter is who is targeted.
One particular group is the elderly.
There are common signs that an elderly individual is becoming the victim of a scam, such as:
- Unpaid bills
- Unusual changes in spending patterns
- The purchase of unnecessary or unusual items for an elderly person, including gift cards
- Unexpected changes in wills or deeds
- The emergence of “new friends”
Additional evidence may include someone promising care, love, or services in exchange for money or property and not following through on the promise, as well as trickery, false pretenses, dishonest acts, or false statements for financial gain. This abusive conduct often falls under the radar of family and friends.
With romance scams on the rise, it is important to know that there are existing laws to help protect against such elder abuse and these scams, at the federal and state levels.
At the federal level, there is the Elder Abuse Justice Act, which requires that the Department of Health and Human Services to oversee the development and management of federal resources for protecting our seniors from elder abuse. This includes funding to state and local adult protective service offices and programs to provide training.
Additional federal laws can also provide a level of security to elders, such as the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which seeks to guard against threats posed by money laundering and illicit finance by requiring Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) for certain transactions, and training employees to recognize fraudulent events. This includes check fraud, mortgage fraud, credit card fraud, consumer loan fraud, identity theft, and false statements.
State laws also provide protection. Elders and those interacting with them, whether as customers or clients, should be aware of their states’ exploitation laws. In Ohio, for example, “exploitation” can be summarized as the unlawful or improper use of an adult or their resources for personal or financial gain by exerting control without proper consent, or through deception, threat, or intimidation. Similarly, in Michigan, financial exploitation is outlawed, and the state requires certain financial institutions to develop policies and train its employees to prevent and report financial exploitation, including deception, manipulation, coercion, intimidation, or improper leveraging of a caregiver relationship.
Furthermore, it is important to be aware of state reporting laws related to abuse. For example, many states have a list of “mandatory reporters” that have a statutory duty to report suspected abuse to county agencies and law
enforcement. Required professionals include attorneys, a wide range of healthcare workers, certain financial professionals and entities, such as banks, and first responders.
Additional state laws may protect elders from romance scams, such as forgery laws and laws against deception, coercion, or undue influence, and there is pending legislation to take the protections a step further. Romance Scam Prevention Act* - H.R. 2481 is targeted at online dating websites and apps, and aims to require online dating services to implement stronger safeguards to prevent these devastating scams.
Financial institutions and any other individuals or entities engaging in transactions with the elderly or who have a legal responsibility over an elderly person need to be aware of these laws and romance scams.
About the Authors
Stuart Best has been practicing law for over 30 years. During that time he has been Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent™ Rated, its highest available rating for legal ability and professional ethics. He was also named Top Lawyer by DBusiness Magazine, 2010, and was selected for inclusion in the Michigan Super Lawyers List, 2011-2012, 2017-2021.
Sara Costanzo has been with Weltman, Weinberg & Reis for nearly 30 years, and during this time she has served as practice chair of the firm’s community banking, government collections, healthcare collections, landlord/tenant and utility collections gr ups.
If you have questions about this topic or want to learn more about Weltman’s consumer collections and/or representation solutions, connect with Shareholders Stuart Best and Sara Costanzo at any time at weltman.com