Senior Scams and the Jackasses Who Perpetrate Them

Yes – as advertised, this week’s essay is about senior scams and the jackasses who perpetrate them. It’s an info-rich message from an avenging angel in the DA’s office. Her name is Vicki Johnson. For a dozen years, Ms. Johnson – semi-retired Deputy District Attorney – has held her own full retirement in abeyance so she could continue chasing these scamming jerks (forgive the arcane legal terminology), all the while educating a vulnerable population on how to recognize when they are about to be taken to the cleaners. 

Meet Vicki Johnson 

The Santa Barbara County Courthouse, with its decorous clock tower, sprawling sunken garden and riot of archways and gables, scarcely looks like a place where justice is meted out. The adjacent Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s office stands in businesslike contrast. Foursquare, whitewashed, blindingly white, the DA’s office on the outside is like the courthouse’s uptight little brother. But when Vicki Johnson comes down to meet me, she has one of those genuine 500 kilowatt smiles you can see a mile away. We make our way up to her office, and the vibe between colleagues in the hallways is chill and familial, though everyone is on the move and
there is no lingering. 

Vicki Johnson has been in the DA’s office for some 30 years, the last 12 or so specializing in elder abuse and scams. She had been set to retire as a prosecutor when she accepted the DA office’s entreaty to hang out for a bit longer and spearhead this effort on behalf of our scam-beleaguered seniors. That was 12 years ago. 

She has a radio show in which she discusses the ever-changing scam du jour. “990 AM, KTMS,” she says. “We broadcast 5:30 pm on Saturday and 9:30 am on Sunday. It’s part of a show called Young at Heart, and this segment is called Scam Squad.” Johnson is an impassioned public speaker and a font of information, and for an hour she enthusiastically poured forth a wealth of actionable knowledge. Here is a representative sliver of said knowledge. Reader, if you or someone you know recognizes their situation in the several examples listed below, or  want more information, please make use of the contacts and resources provided in this piece. 

Here comes Vicki…

AARP

“A major source of continually updated scam info is AARP. They are really on top of it in terms of frauds and scams and getting the word out. Oh yeah, they’re amazing! There’s a woman there by the name of Kathy Stokes who is in charge of getting the information out. She writes a biweekly watchdog alert that goes out to the AARP membership. They’re short and punchy.” 

Google keywords ‘aarp watchdog alerts’

Nobody Is too Smart to Be Scammed

“When I give out my presentations, the first thing I say is that there is a scam for everybody. Nobody is too smart, too sophisticated, too professional to get scammed. I have a fraud hotline where people can call in (805-568-2442) if they have questions or problems or if they’ve been scammed, or wonder if they are in the process of being scammed. I get calls from doctors, from lawyers, from nurses, from very canny businessmen, from tech support people, from a retired judge …” 

Scams Against Seniors Are Largely Organized Offshore Crime

“The thing that I think a lot of people don’t realize is that this is a multi-billion-dollar international industry.” How organized an industry is it? “There are, for example, buildings in India,” Johnson says. “Maybe three, four story buildings. And each floor is devoted to a different kind of scam. Sweepstakes and lottery on one floor, grandparent scam on another floor. I mean, it is a huge business, and there is no shame in being fooled by these people.” 

Social Media and the Romantic Pen Pal 

The modern world’s delirium over digitally connecting has been an unwrapped gift for the scammers. Johnson explains. “Scammers now have a lot more tools to work with. Thanks to social media, they’ll find somebody online and they’ll really study their social media. Often they’ll position themselves as a soldier who is stationed overseas, or a businessman who’s working overseas. Or you think you’re talking to some beautiful young woman and it’s a Nigerian teenager in an internet café or a boiler room. And then the scammer starts what we call love bombing, and they start becoming romantic. ‘You’re such a wonderful person. Beautiful inside and out…’. They will drain you of your last dollar. I talked to a victim who lost a million dollars over a several year time frame…” 

Fraud hotline: 805-568-2442

My Car Broke Down

“Scammers are amazing psychologists. And they will sense when the person is ready for the next step. As soon as they’ve got the victim what they call under the ether – so the victim is thinking with their emotions and not their reasoning brain – then they start asking for money. ‘My car broke down’, or ‘the foreign government has frozen my bank account, and I need money to pay for a piece of business equipment that I need. Could you just loan me a little cash? My daughter needs an emergency surgery…” And those moneys are rarely recoverable? Vicki seems surprised at the question. “Oh, it’s never recoverable.”

Pop Up Tech Support

“Sadly, a lot of people in Santa Barbara are falling for this one and losing a lot of money. There’ll be a pop up on your computer or you’ll get a phone call from tech support, Apple tech support. ‘We’ve detected a problem with your computer. We can fix it, but give us remote access…’ 

AI: The Scammer’s Seamless New Best Friend

“Some of the previous warning signs, like grammatical problems or spelling problems that we used to see in some of the rougher versions of scams, thanks to AI, someone offshore can prepare a beautiful script. They have an answer for every question that you can raise, they have credentials that they can show you that look absolutely real. I talked to somebody a couple of months ago that lost $600,000. They moved all their money thinking that they were working with the FBI. This guy had it all. ‘Here’s my badge, here’s my contact number..’” 

Google keywords ‘aarp AI scams’

AI and Your Child in Need

“The grandparent scam is still going strong, but thanks to AI it is new and improved. Now, when you get that phone call saying, ‘Grandma, I’m in trouble. I was in an automobile accident. I hit somebody and they’re going to take me to jail. Please post bail…’ It sounds like your grandson’s voice. That’s what AI is being used for.” How would they get your grandson’s voice? “If your grandson has left a message on his answering machine, that’s all they need. Thirty seconds and AI can use that voice to say anything they want it to say.” 

Google keywords ‘aarp AI scams’

Shame Enables the Criminal

Throughout our conversation, Johnson has been at pains to explain that underreporting by victims is an ongoing problem that affects both statistical accuracy, and broader scam education. The intense embarrassment a victim feels at having been duped quite often silences them in the wake of the thievery. Vicki is adamant on this point.

“One important thing I want to talk about is that we’re really trying to get away from saying, ‘How could this person have fallen for this?’ When I talk to victims, the first thing they say to me is, ‘I can’t believe I fell for this!’ And what all of us need to understand, and what I try and explain to my victims, is that you are dealing with professionals. You are up against organized crime. What we’ve got to try and do is help these folks go forward, be empathetic. Not say, ‘Well, you should have done this,’ or ‘You should have done that.’ That’s history. Let’s move on to ‘How can I help you? Let’s report this. We can be a team.’” Here comes the brilliant Vicki Johnson smile. “We can do this together.”