[Senate Hearing 114-848]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 114-848
SENIOR SCAMS: WHAT ARE
THEY AND HOW CAN
PEOPLE AVOID THEM
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA
__________
MARCH 21, 2016
__________
Serial No. 114-22
Printed for the use of the Special Committee on Aging
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
48-229 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
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SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING
SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine, Chairman
ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
MARK KIRK, Illinois BILL NELSON, Florida
JEFF FLAKE, Arizona ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania
TIM SCOTT, South Carolina SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
BOB CORKER, Tennessee KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York
DEAN HELLER, Nevada RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
TOM COTTON, Arkansas JOE DONNELLY, Indiana
DAVID PERDUE, Georgia ELIZABETH WARREN, Massachusetts
THOM TILLIS, North Carolina TIM KAINE, Virginia
BEN SASSE, Nebraska
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Priscilla Hanley, Majority Staff Director
Derron Parks, Minority Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Opening Statement of Phyllis Mundy, Vice Chair of the Luzerne-
Wyoming County Area Agency on Aging Advisory Board............. 1
Opening Statement of Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr., Member of the
Committee...................................................... 2
PANEL OF WITNESSES
Teresa Osborne, Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Aging...... 5
Stefanie Salavantis, Luzerne County District Attorney............ 15
Mary Roselle, Executive Director, Area Agency on Aging for
Luzerne and Wyoming Counties................................... 18
Sarah Derhammer, Victim of Identity Theft Scam................... 20
APPENDIX
Prepared Witness Statements
Teresa Osborne, Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Aging...... 29
Stefanie Salavantis, Luzerne County District Attorney............ 33
Mary Roselle, Executive Director, Area Agency on Aging for
Luzerne and Wyoming Counties................................... 37
Sarah Derhammer, Victim of Identity Theft Scam................... 39
SENIOR SCAMS: WHAT ARE
THEY AND HOW CAN
PEOPLE AVOID THEM
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MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
U.S. Senate,
Special Committee on Aging,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m., at
Council Chambers, 200 North River Street, Wilkes-Barre,
Pennsylvania, Hon. Robert P. Casey, Jr., Member of the
Committee, presiding.
Present: Senator Casey.
OPENING STATEMENT OF PHYLLIS MUNDAY,
VICE CHAIR OF THE LUZERNE-WYOMING COUNTY
AREA AGENCY ON AGING ADVISORY BOARD
Ms. Munday. Good morning, everyone. I am Phyllis Munday,
Vice Chair of the Luzerne-Wyoming County Area Agency on Aging
Advisory Board. On behalf of the Agency and its Advisory Board,
I welcome you to today's hearing. William Runner, Chair of the
Advisory Board, is here with us today, as well.
Special welcome and thank you to Secretary of Pennsylvania
Department of Aging Teresa Osborne and to Luzerne County
District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, our own Agency Director
Mary Roselle, and Mrs. Sarah Derhammer, all of whom will offer
remarks today.
We also recognize Cassandra Coleman from the Governor's
Regional Office; Cindy Vough from State Senator John Yudichak's
Office; David Pedri, Luzerne County Manager; Tim McGinley and
Eileen Sorokas from Luzerne County Council. Is there anyone
that I have forgotten or did not see come in?
We were delighted when Senator Casey approached us about
holding a hearing on the topic, ``Senior Scams: What Are They
and How Can People Avoid Them.'' As an agency dedicated to the
welfare of older adults, we are well aware that criminals
constantly target our seniors with scams designed to part them
from their hard-earned life savings.
The Area Agency on Aging has an Older Adult Protective
Services Unit that deals with this type of fraud.
Unfortunately, the staff almost always becomes aware of a scam
perpetrated against an older adult after it is too late to
recover the funds, and all too often after the senior citizen
is left impoverished.
I am sure you will hear today how difficult it is to arrest
and prosecute these criminals, and that is why we are
especially delighted to welcome today's hearing in an effort to
raise awareness, to educate, and to prevent our aging
population from becoming victims of these scams in the first
place, and now, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our
friend and neighbor to the north, Senator Casey. Senator Robert
P. Casey, Jr., is Pennsylvania's senior Senator. He works every
day on behalf of Pennsylvania families, fighting to create
jobs, advocating for children and seniors, and pursuing a
national security strategy that protects our interests and
supports those who serve our country. He serves on five
committees, including the Senate Special
Committee on Aging, Senate Finance Committee, Senate HELP
Committee. Senator Casey and his wife Terese have four
daughters and live in Scranton.
Please join me in welcoming Senator Bob Casey.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE
Senator Casey. The hearing will come to order.
Phyllis, I want to thank you for that introduction and I
wanted to--I had to use the gavel because this is a formal
hearing, as you know from your distinguished career in the
General Assembly. You know how important it is to be formal
when you must be, but we are grateful that you got us started
and I am also grateful for your presence here, not only for the
experience and expertise you bring to issues like this, but
also for your continuing work to protect seniors. It is a nice
reunion, and I do not get to have formal hearings on a regular
basis, so it is nice to have one at home. Thank you, Phyllis.
Ms. Munday. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Casey. Give her a hand.
I want to thank everyone for being here today to confront a
very difficult challenge for seniors and for our families, but
also for the country, and that is the grave challenge we have
in confronting scams against seniors.
We know that on a regular basis, literally, on a daily or
hourly basis, seniors across the country are targeted by
scammers, con artists, frauds, whatever terminology you want to
use, and it is an outrage, no matter whose family, no matter
what the circumstances, that individuals would prey upon
seniors--or anyone else--especially when folks are in
vulnerable circumstances, and they are becoming more and more
sophisticated, both here in Pennsylvania and around the
country.
We know that in Pennsylvania, we are proud to say that we
have a State that, as part of our overall population, we have
almost two million seniors, and we are proud of that, and we
know that we learn so much from them and we have such respect
for them. It also creates a bigger challenge for us on this
issue. We know that a State like ours is at the center of this
growing problem that we see all across the country.
The scams that we are talking about are more than some kind
of temporary inconvenience. Instead, they can be a horror for
seniors and for their families, and when we step back and
consider who these individuals are who become victims of these
kinds of schemes and scams, we know who they are. They are our
mothers and fathers, they are members of our family, they are
people across our State who fought our wars, who worked in our
factories, who taught our children, who built this country, and
who, of course, gave us life, literally, and love, and we owe
them a debt of gratitude that can be repaid in a lot of ways,
but one of the best ways to make sure that we are repaying that
debt is to do everything we can to protect them from these
kinds of crimes.
We know that in Pennsylvania and across the U.S., there are
more and more reports of criminals scamming seniors, defrauding
our parents or grandparents, and we know that this does not
involve millions or tens of millions of dollars. It literally
involves billions and billions of dollars.
We know that the Pennsylvania Area Agency on Aging receives
thousands of reports each year of this kind of victimization.
Over 18,000 calls were received in the 2012-2013 fiscal year,
and those calling were requesting protective service, resulting
in nearly 5,000 substantiated cases, so 18,000 cases and 5,000
cases substantiated across our State just in that 1 year.
The monetary loss to elder fraud and abuse is roughly $2.9
billion each year, and it is growing. This is from our seniors
who are more likely to live on a fixed income with little money
to spare.
These scams come in many forms and varieties and can be
performed through the telephone, by way of the Internet, or, in
fact, even in person. Scammers may pretend to be
representatives of the U.S. Government or foreign governments.
They may pretend to be a trusted company, a corporation, or it
may be someone looking for or pretending that they are someone
looking for companionship or even a loved one of that senior,
pretending to be someone they are not.
As a member of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging,
I have explored several types of these scams and have asked
questions of representatives from law enforcement and from
victims themselves to find the best ways to protect our seniors
and to demand justice for those who scam them.
The Aging Committee established a hotline for any
individual to call if they believe that they or a loved one is
involved in a scam, and we will repeat this number, but the
number for the Aging Committee, the U.S. Senate Aging
Committee, to report these kinds of scams is 1-855-303-9470,
855-303-9470. Over the course of 2015, the committee received
over a thousand calls from across the country, so a brand new
1-855 number set up and you are getting as many as a thousand
calls in just the first year.
The committee published a report detailing the top ten
types of scams committed and ways for seniors to protect
themselves. This is the report that I am referring to. We have
copies out there, but you can see, and those of you who have
done a lot of work in this area will recognize not just what
the data shows, but will recognize some of the patterns that
have been identified that comprise those type ten types of
scams.
Most prevalent were IRS scams, Internal Revenue Service
scams, where scammers pretend to be IRS agents, claiming that
their elderly victims owe significant back taxes or fees. After
demanding and, in some cases, receiving payment, often over the
course of several phone calls, the relentless scammers have
been known to continue calling the senior claiming to have
found further tax discrepancies. These criminals prey on
seniors who tend to be more trusting, more likely to live
alone, and sometimes inexperienced in the technology used by
the scammers.
On the Aging Committee report are also another category,
sweepstakes scammers. A popular version of this scam is the
Jamaican lottery scam, which results in roughly $300 million
having been sent to scammers on the island nation each year
from nearly 300,000 American seniors.
My office has heard from one individual in Northeastern
Pennsylvania whose elderly sister has been a victim of
sweepstakes scams multiple times. The first was a scammer who
claimed that she won money from a Publishers' Clearinghouse
Sweepstakes, but she first needed to pay $10,000 in taxes and
fees. That is what the scam artist told her. After identifying
this as a scam before paying, the same woman was later scammed
by a Jamaican lottery scammer to whom she did, in fact, send
money. After paying these bills, this senior received multiple
calls and mailings each day asking for additional money.
We must do more to protect our seniors. That is an
understatement. We have got to do a lot more to protect them
from fraud and help those who commit these crimes to be held
fully accountable, to feel the full measure of justice, and
there are lots of ways to do that, whether it is civil fines,
and I will talk about a piece of Federal legislation to do
that, or there is jail time. We should do everything we can to
hunt these people down and send them to jail, so that is why I
am introducing legislation at the Federal level, the Senior
Investor Protection Enhancement Act, which would ensure that we
adequately punish those who commit these crimes against
seniors. Now, this is on the civil fine side of this. I still
want to send them to jail, too, but that is often for other
levels of government.
This bill at the Federal level would fine individuals an
additional $50,000 on top of any criminal penalties for any
securities violations committed against or directed toward
seniors, so in addition to criminal accountability and criminal
penalties, this would be on top of that, a civil penalty with
an additional $50,000 above what it is now.
The examples before us today and the testimony that we will
hear today are the stories and experiences of those who have
been able to come forward, but these are not all the stories,
obviously, of what has happened to individuals. We know that so
many seniors suffer from these scams in silence. They do not
bring it forward. They do not want to report.
We know that older Americans are less likely to report
fraud and abuse, and that is understandable. They may not
realize they have been scammed. They may be ashamed of what has
happened, especially if they have lived a successful life and
have been very successful in their profession. They often may
feel embarrassed to report, and that is understandable. I
would, too.
They do not know how to report the incident is another
problem, and I hope today will be one of those days when we can
remind folks about ways you can report.
We also know that in Pennsylvania, there is a statewide
Elder Abuse Hotline, an 800 number, 1-800-490-8505, 1-800-490-
8505. This number will direct an individual to their local Area
Agency on Aging. The hotline is operational 24 hours a day, 7
days a week.
Internet crime complaints can also be reported to the FBI
in the National White Collar Crime Center at www.IC3.gov, and
that is capital I, capital C, No. 3-dot-gov.
I look forward to discussing how we can both protect our
seniors to recognize the signs of a scam and how to find and
prosecute to the full extent of the law individuals responsible
for perpetrating these crimes.
I am honored today not just to be with you and to learn
from you, and to learn from both our witnesses as well as from
folks in the audience, but I am especially grateful to welcome
in our first panel, it is a single person on a single panel,
but she has a major responsibility in Pennsylvania, and that is
Secretary of Aging, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of
Aging, I should say, Teresa Osborne, someone I have known for a
long time, long before she became Madam Secretary, if we are
allowed to call you that.
Teresa was confirmed as Secretary of the Pennsylvania
Department of Aging by a unanimous vote of the Senate, the
Pennsylvania Senate, on May 13, 2015. I have never received a
unanimous vote on anything.
I am grateful to be in the presence of someone who has.
Secretary Osborne most recently served as the Executive
Director of the Luzerne and Wyoming Counties Area Agency on
Aging. She previously served as Chancellor and Chief Operating
Officer of the Diocese of Scranton, and prior to that was
Executive Director of the Lackawanna County Department of Human
Services and Executive Director of the Lackawanna County Area
Agency on Aging. That is when I met her and got to know her and
her work in Lackawanna County.
A native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Secretary Osborne has
over two decades of experience working with and advocating for
older Pennsylvanians and other vulnerable populations. She
earned her Bachelor of Social Work degree and Master's of
Health Service Administration from Marywood University, the
alma mater of my mother and my daughter and two sisters and my
brother-in-law, and I will not continue, but it is a long list.
They would want me to mention that, and I just did and I hope
everyone heard it.
I am grateful to have the Secretary of Aging here.
Secretary, if you would provide some testimony and then--your
time is unlimited, but maybe the room will knock on the door
and tell us when to leave, but I wanted to ask you some
questions, but we are really honored to have you here and
grateful for your continuing work to protect our seniors.
STATEMENT OF TERESA OSBORNE, SECRETARY,
PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF AGING
Ms. Osborne. I appreciate that, Senator, more than you
know. Good morning. Senator, thank you for your kind words of
introduction and for giving Marywood University a shout out. My
family, too, will be proud of that.
To my fellow testifiers and guests, thank you for pausing
out of your Monday morning in order to join us here today for
this important hearing hosted by Senator Casey.
My name, as mentioned, is Teresa Osborne. I currently have
the privilege of serving as the Secretary of Aging for the
Pennsylvania Department of Aging, and while it is indeed a
privilege for me to serve in this capacity and for me to
provide testimony for the purposes of this public hearing, I
would really rather that the need for a session like this
simply did not exist, but the need is real and the suffering of
far too many seniors is palpable.
Every year, older Americans lose, as was just mentioned,
nearly $2.9 billion to scammers and con artists, indeed,
criminals who take advantage of an older adult's
vulnerabilities. As was described in the report that Senator
Casey just referenced to, ``Fighting Fraud, U.S. Senate Aging
Committee,'' that identified top ten, almost a David Letterman-
like top ten scams targeting our Nation's seniors, fraud
involves the deliberate deceit--I repeat again, the deliberate
deceit--of the victim with the promise of goods, services, or
other benefits that are nonexistent, unnecessary, never
intended to be provided, or grossly misrepresented.
Generally, financial crimes against the elderly fall under
two categories, fraud committed by strangers and financial
exploitation by relatives, friends, or other caregivers. While
these two categories at times are often interchangeable, the
difference really does lie in the offender-victim relationship,
which calls for us to engage in different methods to respond to
the problem.
As was conveyed via the report that Senator Casey and his
fellow committee members put together, older Pennsylvanians,
regretfully, are counted among those older Americans who have
fallen victim to prize and sweepstake fraud, identity theft,
financial exploitation, and other types of scams.
Having begun my career, as the Senator just alluded to, as
an aging care manager 26 years ago at the Lackawanna County
Area Agency on Aging, placed immediately into the Older Adult
Protective Service Unit. Since that time all those years ago, I
have witnessed firsthand the devastating toll that being the
victim of a financial crime takes on an older adult.
Under the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Older Adult
Protective Services Act, individuals age 60 years and older who
lack the capacity to protect themselves, who are eminent risk
of abuse, including financial fraud, are able under that Act to
receive services necessary to protect their health, welfare,
and safety. The Older Adult Protective Services Act ensures
that steps are taken by the local Area Agency on Aging to
detect, reduce, or eliminate the abuse while safeguarding--
always safeguarding--the older adult's rights.
Currently, I have the privilege of serving in a position of
trust whereby, in addition to my home County of Lackawanna and
County of Luzerne-Wyoming, where I had the grateful privilege
of working in for a little bit of time before I was called to
Harrisburg, but for those who I know and work most closely with
at the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, we are responsible to
ensure that all our Commonwealth's Older Adult Protective
Services Act is, indeed, protecting vulnerable Pennsylvanians
in all 67 of our Commonwealth's counties, 67 counties covered
by our local 52 Area Agencies on Aging.
In this privileged post, regretfully, every day, I hear or
am informed of an older adult somewhere in the 67 counties of
our Commonwealth who has been financially exploited. The
situations that I am informed of range from an elderly woman's
pension check being cashed without her permission to an elderly
man's signature being forged on a check and is then used not
for his benefit, from the misuse of an older adult's
possessions, such as an ATM or a credit card, to an older adult
being coerced into signing over a piece of property, or the
improper use of assets by a Power of Attorney or a court-
appointed guardian.
These situations also include seniors falling victim to
sweepstakes scams, whereby the older adult is told that he or
she could win, or has already won, a valuable prize or a lot of
money. In order to receive their prize, however, the older
adult must first send in money in order to cover taxes,
shipping, or other fees. The older adult obliges and then the
prize is never delivered, or in other instances, a senior falls
prey to scammers who solicit donations to nonexistent
charities, indeed, playing on the older adult's simple desire
to help others, or older Pennsylvanians who fall victim to home
repair scams whereby a con artist recommends an array of
fraudulent emergency home repairs, often requiring an advance
deposit. The con artist may then fail to do any work, may start
the work and never finish, or will do substandard work that
requires correction. These most common frauds of home repairs
include roof repairs, driveway resurfacing, or waterproofing
and pest control.
As distressing as each situation is, it is even more
sobering knowing that researchers tell us that only a small
percent of financial fraud cases perpetrated against a senior
are ever reported. It is estimated that for each case that is
reported, between 14 and 24 cases go undetected.
Older adults are less likely to report financial fraud for
several main reasons: They do not realize they have been or are
being scammed; they do not know who to report it to; they are
too ashamed or embarrassed; they worry that their relatives or
friends will think that they no longer have the mental capacity
to take care of their own financial affairs; or they fear
retaliation.
The fastest growing segment of America's population are
individuals who are 85 years of age and older. To give you an
idea of the steepness of this increase, in 2010, there were 5.8
million Americans age 85 and older. By 2050, it is projected
that there will be 19 million people in this age group.
Pennsylvania's profile is no different.
Financial exploitation is one of the most frequent forms of
older abuse, and it is only going to get worse. As such, it is
important that we focus on three key areas: Prevention,
protection, and response. To this end, it is also incredibly
critical that our response strategies be tailored to one's
local circumstances and includes the engagement of a variety of
partners. Law enforcement responses alone are not effective in
reducing or solving the problem. Careful consideration must be
given to who else in your particular community shares
responsibility and who can help law enforcement better respond
to instances of elder fraud and financial exploitation.
We know from experience that these cases are complex and
require expertise in multiple areas, including the expertise
found at the local Area Agency on Aging. It also requires the
expertise of local district attorneys, police departments,
financial institutions, and other community groups who are
dedicated to serving older adults.
Building coalitions and engaging in community outreach
efforts have led to the creation of Elder Abuse Task Forces
throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Successful task
forces such as the task force that functions right here in
Luzerne County are built on the premise that to effectively
protect older adults, the aging services network and law
enforcement must work cooperatively in identifying and
responding to elder victimizations.
The Pennsylvania Department of Aging, in partnership with
Temple University's Institute on Protective Services, provides
support to counties desiring to develop an Elder Abuse Task
Force. Our hope for each task force is that through this
collaborative effort, community professionals come together to
break down walls that otherwise prevent effective responses to
the victimization of older adults. The public is also educated
to recognize and report elder abuse, and advocacy becomes the
cornerstone by which justice is pursued and cases of elder
fraud and financial abuse are successfully prosecuted.
Our intention in providing this support is embedded. It is
embedded in Governor Wolf's commitment to protect our most
vulnerable residents from all types of abuse and neglect and to
bring elder justice to the communities of our Commonwealth.
Older Pennsylvanians have sacrificed and worked hard to raise
their families, build their communities, and defend our country
in times of crisis. They deserve to have access to an elder
justice system that is prepared and committed to help them cope
with the harm that has been done, and to have the support
necessary to seek restitution, healing, and recovery.
The World Health Organization recently said this about
elder abuse. Elder abuse is a violation of human rights and is
a significant cause of illness, injury, loss of productivity,
and despair.
As a government, as a society, as a community, and as
individuals, each of us must play our part. We must strive to
increase our efforts to ensure that all older Pennsylvanians
have the opportunity to age in place with the dignity, respect,
and honor that they deserve.
I thank you for the opportunity to present this testimony
on this very important issue, Mr. Senator, and look forward to
being able to respond to any questions that you may have of me.
Senator Casey. Thank you, Secretary Osborne. I appreciate
your testimony and the experience that undergirds it, your own
experience as an advocate for all these years.
I guess I will start with that experience. Can you outline
for us, and I know we do not have unlimited time to do a full
history of all your experience, but can you outline for us how
this problem has grown and developed since the time you were
starting out in your work in Lackawanna County and then
eventually Luzerne County.
Ms. Osborne. Sure. For each case that I have seen as a
protective service investigator, first and foremost, it is
amazing at how much critically complex the cases have become
and that individuals, regardless of the complexity of the case,
are often left to despair in terms of embarrassment, in terms
of their quality of life, and in terms of their desire to
continue to engage with their community, so, for the cases,
however, that folks have become even more dubious in the way
that they approach an older adult. For example, many of the
cases that I had the privilege and opportunity to engage in
with older adults, you know, you had to listen in terms of what
folks were telling you, listen for those little details, as we
do with our own elderly parents or neighbors or friends or
others that we engage with. Sometimes it is just the little
thing that is said in terms of, ``I am lonely,'' ``I am a
recent widow or widowers, but, you know, this person is calling
me every day and engaging in conversation with me.''
Those devious attempts in order to befriend somebody will
always, always stop me and pause me and leave me in amazement
in terms of just the great lengths that someone goes to in
order to steal someone else's money and take advantage of their
life and leave them decimated behind them.
Many of the perpetrators of these abuses are never caught
because they are on phones far overseas with regard to reaching
out to vulnerable older adults, let alone older vulnerable
Pennsylvanians, but, millions of older adults across our
country who fall victim to scam and prey.
It is amazing to me that the problem just continues to
worsen, clearly because of numbers. You know, we are privileged
within our Commonwealth of 12.7 million individuals and 2.9
million of them age 60 and over call Pennsylvania home, and
while the needs of older Pennsylvanians vary as folks age in
place with dignity and respect, the fastest growing age cohort
in Pennsylvania are those 85-plus. Often, it is a single female
living in their home and easily can fall victim to prey, and
often, even though they may realize what is going on, are
afraid to tell anybody, so, we constantly--it has not changed
in the 26 years that I have engaged in this work, to encourage
folks to come forward, whether they call their local Area
Agency on Aging or they call law enforcement, tell someone they
trust so that they can help them get help and can protect their
assets and their dignity as they desire to live in their
communities.
Senator Casey. I guess part of the challenge here---there
are a couple, I guess, if we had to outline them. One is the
numbers you mentioned, the number of seniors growing,
especially the 85 and up. I was looking at the numbers in your
testimony. It looks like in a little more than 30 years, the
number of seniors nationally over 85 and older will triple,
from almost six million to 19 million--actually, more than
triple, so that is one challenge, that there are just more
potential victims.
Number two, I guess, is technology. The telephone itself,
kind of an old fashioned telephone, is still being used, but
now with cell phones, people can make these calls from almost
anywhere, and I guess, at the same time, can be traced to a
phone, but then if they are not using the same phone, I am sure
the scam artist figures out ways to not be traced by way of the
cell phone.
Then the Internet is something relatively new, probably
since when you started in this work, there was not that
pathway, so just like everything else, these tools that help us
make our lives simpler and are great conveniences and tools to
gain knowledge can also be used to victimize.
Do you think, with both the growth of the numbers and the
growth of the technology, do you think we have missed some
opportunities to keep ahead of it, and if you have any ideas,
not only for what we could do at the Federal level, but even
more ideas for us to either legislate, collaborate, do other
things to reduce the problem.
Ms. Osborne. You hit it, Senator, on a word that I like to
use frequently, and that is collaborate, followed up by
communicate.
Senator Casey. Right.
Ms. Osborne. If we collaborate and communicate, and then I
will add a third one, educate. The more that we educate, not
just seniors but anyone who is engaging in technology. You
know, more opportunities now, as you mentioned, with iPhones,
with computer technology, with social media. There are more
opportunities to collaborate and communicate. However, if we
are not trained and trusted and educated on how to use those
appropriately for good as opposed to for deviant acts, such as
victimization of an older adult or another vulnerable
Pennsylvanian, such as individuals under the age of 60 with
physical disabilities who we see more and more of also falling
victim to financial exploitation and financial fraud.
The more we can educate folks across the lifespan in terms
of how to utilize technology for the good as opposed to for the
bad, the better served we will be, so I think there are always
opportunities for us to collaborate.
One thing that we strive to do in State government is to
collaborate at the State level, and we cannot talk about it
externally to folks such as those who gather with us today in
the community if we are not doing it at the State level, so
what do I mean by that? My opportunity to work with the
Secretaries of Health, the Secretaries of Human Services, the
Secretary of Banking and Finance, the Secretary of Education,
in terms of how we are collaborating together to utilize the
resources before us in terms of educating older Pennsylvanians
about the tools that are before them in order to understand
health insurance, for example, how to navigate it. The
Department of Aging does a tremendous job helping with that, so
does the Department of Insurance.
We have opportunities to collaborate at the statewide level
to utilize our resources that are limited, just as they are
everywhere else, but to utilize them well and wisely in order
to educate older Pennsylvanians about what the tools are, what
the technology are, and as we sit here on March 21 and the tax
deadline looming before us, IRS tax scams are the ones that we
talk about most these days in terms of an individual from the
Federal Reserve, and that an IRS agent is never going to call
you on the phone and demand a payment for money. They are not
going to reach out to you electronically via e-mail and say,
send in money.
How do we educate older Pennsylvanians at this tax season
time, when many older Pennsylvanians, regretfully, do not have
a lot of income coming in and are not required to pay taxes--I
am sorry, to file a tax return, but how do we educate them to
say, hey, the person calling on the other line does not have
your best interest. Just hang up the phone. If anybody asks you
to provide their Social Security number or credit card number
or bank card number over the phone and it is not a call that
you solicited their assistance, hang up and then tell somebody
about it.
There is plenty of opportunity that we can take advantage
of to do a better job at educating, and then when we do believe
that something has happened to an older adult, the
responsibility under the Older Adult Protective Services Act is
to take steps to reduce or eliminate that abuse. We then have
an opportunity and an obligation to refer that to law
enforcement, where with the piece of legislation that you
recommend and others who will testify after me with regard to
how law enforcement responds to these cases, that we can seek
elder justice while we are also protecting the individual
rights of an older adult who might have been victimized.
Senator Casey. In terms--you mentioned the word education,
which is such a big part of this battle. Like any consumers, we
all have to be on guard, and maybe more so seniors, because
they are most likely the most targeted audience. Can you tell
us, and I know some of this is by way of reiteration, but tell
us a little more about what your Department does to educate now
and how folks in, whether it is Luzerne County or anywhere in
Northeastern Pennsylvania, can take advantage of the
educational opportunities, the information that you provide.
Ms. Osborne. Sure. At the local level and here in Luzerne
County, as well as in Wyoming, as well as Lackawanna, and
throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, our educational
opportunities are limitless. We attempt to go into senior
centers, to high-rises, to adult day centers, to anywhere where
seniors live and work and pray and play, in order to ensure
that we are giving them good information with regard to, did
this happen to you? Do not be afraid or embarrassed, but come
forward and let us know how we could possibly help you.
We also do, as I just mentioned, a lot of partnerships, in
particular with educational opportunities with the Attorney
General's office, as well as the Bureau of Consumer Protection,
as well as the Department of Insurance, as well as the
Department of Banking and Securities, with regard to how we
collaborate our message to get into the communities where
seniors, again, are gathered so that we can educate them on
what are the most current scams that are out there.
I am always amazed at a new scam, you know, and every time
I hear folks from the Attorney General's office talk about
elder victimization and what scams folks are perpetrating upon
them, I am always amazed, so when we talk about education of
our seniors, it is also education of those who are going into
the homes or going into the areas where seniors congregate in
order to educate them. How are we educating our staffs, not
just at the State level, but then at the local level, 67
counties and our 52 Area Agencies on Aging.
It is critically important that we have educational
opportunities available to them so that they know what is going
on in the world that is ever changing around us, which is
another reason why we like to partner with Temple University
and its Institute on Protective Services so that we can ensure
that from the educational standpoint of a university such as
Temple that is committed to working with the Commonwealth and
has been for many, many years, back to when your Dad was
Governor and the Older Adult Protective Services Act first came
into play, in order to ensure that we are getting information
out there as quickly as possible and taking advantage of every
means.
Long gone are the days of being able to come together for a
week-long training at a hotel conference room, you know. We
need to take advantage of the good use of technology via social
media and online training in order to educate our staffs on a
constant basis so they can, in turn, go into the homes of older
Pennsylvanians and ensure that they are protected.
Senator Casey. If you had the--I know this is difficult to
summarize quickly, but if you had to give advice to any one of
us, not just seniors, but any one of us about what are the
first two or three steps you should take if you get a phone
call or some communication that you have some suspicion of,
about, and I guess part of this is, unfortunately, being more
suspicious and less trustful, but kind of walk us through the
first things you should do if you get some kind of
communication that you think might be a scam.
Ms. Osborne. Well, my Mom is 82. She will kill me now for
saying that. However, my Mom is also an older Pennsylvanian
who, you know, lives basically alone for the days that I am in
Harrisburg and my brothers and others are coming in and out of
her life on a regular basis, but I will share with you the same
advice that I give to her.
For all of the calls that come into a household, if it is
not a member of your family and it is somebody engaging you in
conversation and attempts to befriend you or ask you questions
that are personal to you and you did not solicit the
conversation, hang up. You know, in terms of not engaging in
conversation is critical, and then let one of your kids know.
Do not be afraid. Do not be embarrassed. Tell somebody that you
trust. Tell one of your children, or tell your neighbor, tell--
oftentimes in our communities, there are faith-based
institutions, a priest, a rabbi, a minister that you would
trust in order to reach out to him or her in order to help be
educated with regard to, you know, this is not--you did not
solicit this information. Nobody should call you on the phone
and just all of a sudden be asking you for personal
information, so that would be the best advice that I could give
to family members and caregivers like myself who have elderly
parents living at home who want to remain independent and need
to be empowered to remain independent, but oftentimes these
scammers and con artists are pretty crafty in terms of just
continuing to engage in conversation, calling consistently at
consistent times when they think that you might be lonely or
more vulnerable, so that my first bit of advice would always be
just to hang up.
If, however, you feel that you went a little bit too far,
you know, with answering questions, or gave out information
like a Social Security number or a bank account information,
you cannot be afraid to tell somebody that that happened,
because the quicker that we can refer it to law enforcement,
the quicker that somebody can get on it in terms of stopping
that, the quicker we can get to a bank to say, hey, stop any
payments on any credit cards or withdrawals from any accounts,
so that would be the fast and dirty types of education that I
take to myself as well as to my own family members and friends
with regard to how to protect older Pennsylvanians at the very
grassroots level of where calls are coming in individuals'
homes.
Senator Casey. Well, I appreciate that. In your testimony,
at the end, when you quoted the World Health Organization, that
elder abuse is, quote, ``a violation of human rights and a
significant cause of illness, injury, loss of productivity, and
despair,'' that is, unfortunately, the result of it, and all
the more reason why we are grateful for your work and for your
leadership and for your continuing labor in this vineyard, if I
can use an old expression from the Bible, because we need more
public officials and leaders in government who are focused on
this problem, so in addition to the other duties and
responsibilities as Secretary, we appreciate you focusing on
this challenge.
Secretary Osborne, thank you very much for your testimony.
Ms. Osborne. Thanks, Senator. I appreciate it.
Senator Casey. As we transition to our second panel, if we
can have our second panel move to the table, I will just
highlight something that the Secretary referred to, this card,
this Tax Scam Protection Checklist from the IRS. I would urge
anyone here to take--we have copies of these, right? Yes, there
are copies outside--to take a copy of this, because a lot of
people may not know this. I did not know this until recently,
about a list of things the IRS would never do, and sometimes,
it is easily--when we hear IRS, sometimes that gets people's
attention. They might take action that they would not
otherwise, so this is a list of six things the IRS will never
do, and I hope we can highlight that.
Second, I mentioned the report, but I did not read the
title. The U.S. Senate Committee on Aging report, ``Fighting
Fraud: U.S. Senate Aging Committee Identifies Top Ten Scams
Targeting Our Nation's Seniors.'' That is the report I referred
to, and you can take a copy of that, as well.
I want to thank our second panel. What I will do is
introduce each member of the panel first and then we will have
their testimony and then I will take questions for--or, I will
ask questions of all three as a group, as a unit, so I will
first introduce each--introduce all the witnesses at one time
and then we will start with the testimony.
I want to thank the District Attorney for being here, for
her presence and for her work on this issue. District Attorney
Stefanie Salavantis took office in 2012, am I correct about
that?
Ms. Salavantis. Yes.
Senator Casey. In 2012, and not long after she became
District Attorney, she restructured the office by forming seven
prosecuting investigating units. She formed, as well, an
advanced tactical anti-crime unit made up of State, local, and
Federal agencies to conduct--or to counter, I should say, to
counter the increase in violent crime in our area. This unit
includes the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement
Agency, the Liquor Control Board, the State Police, Luzerne
County detectives, Luzerne County sheriffs, as well as--
sheriffs and deputy sheriffs--as well as multiple law
enforcement agencies from many municipalities.
She also worked to change the Luzerne County Child Advocacy
Center, making the decision to operate the center as a
nonprofit. The focus of the center, of course, is on helping
children who have been physically and sexually assaulted or
neglected.
Finally, in 2012, Luzerne County was faced with five teen
suicides. In an effort to reduce teen suicide, the District
Attorney introduced John Halligan, a nationally recognized
bullying and suicide prevention speaker, to students at every
public high school and even some middle schools in Luzerne
County, and she is a, I should mention for the record, she is a
graduate of Temple University. It came up in the Secretary's
testimony.
District Attorney, thank you for being here and we
appreciate your work on this.
Ms. Salavantis. Well, thank you for having me.
Senator Casey. I will go to you first for testimony, but
let me introduce our next two panel members.
Mary Roselle--Mary is the Executive Director of the Area
Agency on Aging for Luzerne and Wyoming Counties and has a B.S.
in Accounting--my wife would want me to mention B.S. in
Accounting--from Wilkes University and an M.B.A. in Finance
also from Wilkes. She has been with the Area Agency on Aging
for 15 years. For the majority of her time, she was Director of
Administrative Services, which meant she was responsible for
fiscal management, contract procurement, policy setting, and
aspects of human resources. That is a hard job, and now you
have got a promotion, right? Thank you for being here.
I should say, prior to that, she worked for G.E. Capital
and Commonwealth Telephone, many years of experience in both
finance and management. She also teaches at College
Misericordia, teaching in accounting and financing courses,
which some in Washington should probably take, but we are
grateful.
Finally, Sarah Derhammer from Kingston Township. Sarah was
born and raised and still lives in Kingston. Sarah and her late
husband, Melvin, were married for 43 years before he passed
away 5 years ago, and we are grateful in light of the difficult
years you have had that you are willing to testify here today.
Sarah and Melvin had five children. She worked 15 years at
Kentucky Fried Chicken, 12 years at Long John Silver's. That is
a lot of years on your feet----
Mrs. Derhammer. Yes.
Senator Casey [continuing]. carrying heavy trays, I am
sure, and serving people. She also worked for a trucking
delivery backstop--I should say, blacktop, delivering blacktop
company for over 23 years, and I am sorry, that was your
husband.
Mrs. Derhammer. That was my husband.
Senator Casey. Your husband worked there for 23 years.
Mrs. Derhammer. I was going to say----
Senator Casey. You would not be able to get all those years
in one lifetime, right? He did some pretty tough work. That
is----
Mrs. Derhammer. Yes. He drove a truck.
Senator Casey. That is a challenge for anyone to do that
kind of work. You have also been a volunteer at Kingston Active
Adult Senior Center, and that is another reason to commend and
salute you today.
Why don't we start with the District Attorney and then we
will go from my left to right, and then we will take some
questions.
STATEMENT OF STEFANIE SALAVANTIS,
LUZERNE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Ms. Salavantis. Well, thank you, and thank you for giving
me this opportunity to speak about this very important topic.
I know we touched a little bit upon some of the stats with
regard to the seniors within our State and our community, but I
do want to touch upon that just a little bit more. In
Pennsylvania, based on the 2014 U.S. Census, Pennsylvania was
the fourth highest--had the fourth highest percentage
nationally for senior citizens. We were behind Maine, Florida,
and West Virginia.
Our population in Luzerne County is sort of similar, but
with Luzerne County, we have a higher percentage compared to
our State percentage. We have a 19 percent--approximately 19
percent of our population are considered senior citizens. That
increased by over 1 percent in just a few years. I touch upon
that because I think it is very important for people to know
that Luzerne County does have one of the highest percentage of
senior citizens, and that is why this topic is very important
to our community.
Within the District Attorney's office, we oversee all of
the criminal cases that occur within our borders. We have 48
local and county law enforcement agencies, not including State
and Federal agencies, that we work side-by-side with in order
to prosecute these criminals committing crimes within our
neighborhoods, and within the District Attorney's office, I
have nine detectives assigned to specifically help law
enforcement throughout the entire county on more of the
egregious crimes being committed against our population. Some
of these crimes include Internet crimes against children,
domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, sexual assaults,
white collar crimes, and homicides, and of those nine
detectives that we have, one detective is specifically assigned
to elder abuse because we are seeing so much going on here in
Luzerne County, and elder abuse, as we discussed here today,
elder abuse includes physical abuse. It includes financial
exploitation. It includes scams, frauds. These are very
important topics that we discuss on a regular basis
specifically with the Elder Abuse Task Force and making sure
that we work in a group effort, being more collaborative, and
making sure that we are educating the community on what we are
seeing from the law enforcement's perspective.
With regard to scams, we know that that is our topic here
today. It is becoming more sophisticated and internationally
driven, and this is what we are seeing based on the numerous,
dozens upon dozens of calls that we receive just in the
District Attorney's office. This does not include calls that
are made to law enforcement throughout the county, and this is
just a fraction of the actual number, as you discussed here
today, just a fraction of the number that we are anticipating
are occurring and is happening to our senior citizens within
our community.
We believe that our senior citizens are the most vulnerable
and being preyed upon by these criminals, and most of the time,
this is because they are at home more often than other
individuals. They are looking for attention from other people
and are more trusting, so these criminals are preying upon them
because they know that they will provide them more information
than some other citizen may provide.
It is apparent that these perpetrators know the elderly
population have more money. They have savings. They have assets
which can be easily accessed by these victims, and sadly, we
are talking about thousands of dollars, if not their entire
life's savings.
Most of the seniors that we speak to, and we go around, the
District Attorney's office, we go around and we speak to a lot
of seniors throughout Luzerne County, and we like to talk to
them and listen to their stories, and a lot come forward and
say, we have never gone to the police. We never reported that a
crime has occurred, that we were actually scammed, and one of--
I would say the number one reason why they do not report is
because most say they feel stupid. They are embarrassed. ``I
cannot believe I fell for this scam.''
I tried to say time and time again, this--although you feel
for it, they do not discriminate. It happens to people of all
ages, of every background. Just because you feel that you
should have acknowledged that this was a scam and you feel
embarrassed, you should come forward, because that may help
someone down the line, and it was discussed a lot here today.
Education is key. We need to make sure that the public knows
what is going on, the scams that are taking place within our
communities, so we do not have another individual fall prey to
these criminals.
I just want to touch upon three major scams that we are
seeing within Luzerne County. The number one scam that we are
seeing is called the sweepstakes scam, as you explained, and
other people may know it as the lottery scam. A good example of
this scam, and one of the most heinous examples that I have
seen occur in Luzerne County, is a case that happened in 2015.
A woman came forward and called one of my detectives and said,
``I just want to report a scam that took place upon myself and
my family.''
What she stated was that she received a call from a female
who said she was a lawyer in North Carolina and that she was
obligated to reach out to the winners of the North Carolina
Lottery, and she informed this woman that she won $500,000, and
in order to get this, the lottery winnings, she had to pay
taxes and the processing fees. She did not believe it, so this
woman provided her with a name and a number of an individual,
the Commissioner of the North Carolina Lottery, and she
thought, okay. I am going to call this number back. We will see
if this is real, and she calls the number back. A male answers
the phone and answers by that name and says, ``I am the
Commissioner of the lottery and you did win $500,000.'' She in
her mind thought, there is no way that this could be a scam, so
she ended up sending check after check for the taxes and
processing fees. She followed up and said, ``Why did I not get
my winnings yet?'' The woman from North Carolina said, ``Well,
I want to make you aware that your winnings just increased to
one million dollars.'' She then told her she had to pay
additional taxes and fees, which she did.
After a little while not receiving the winnings, she
realized that she was scammed. It was a very well organized
scam, and when she finally--when the victim finally came
forward and said that--and reported it to law enforcement, she
was out over $85,000. This was almost her entire life's
savings, and when she found out that she was going to win the
lottery and she was potentially going to be receiving $500,000
to $1 million, she thought, oh, this is God giving me a sign.
Her husband was ill and she needed the money to help pay for
his expenses. Instead, she was scammed out of $85,000 and now
they do not know what to do. They did not know where to turn
because they did not know how to pay for the expenses, her
husband's medical expenses.
This is what we are seeing on a regular basis, and this is
heart wrenching to law enforcement, because what do you say to
a woman who is sitting there explaining this story to you when
you do not have answers. You do not know what to do from law
enforcement's perspective, because almost every single time
that we are dealing with this, we know that these individuals
are from out of the country, so there is not anything that we
could potentially do because they already received the money
and we had no ability to even try to track them.
That is just one example of a scam that has taken place in
Luzerne County. Another one was touched upon again with the
impersonating government officials, typically, the IRS or law
enforcement, the District Attorney's office. We get calls on a
regular basis saying, ``Law enforcement called me and said I
owe you money. I got in trouble. I owe a fine, and I do not
know who to turn to, and we have to explain to them, this was
just a scam. You are fine.
I try to add some humor in there when I am talking to
senior citizens about how one individual, one scammer decided
he was going to call my office and tell me that law enforcement
was coming after me, and the District Attorney already signed
off on the charges. That is an example of how they do not pick
and choose. They go after anyone, and anyone that will fall for
any type of scam.
The third example is the grandparent scam. This is one we
are seeing a lot of, and what these perpetrators do is they
call, and sometimes they will call on a regular basis, trying
to get a little bit of information out of the senior citizen at
a time, the name of family members, pretending that they are
the grandchild and saying, ``It is me, your grandchild,'' and
they will say, ``Oh, Peter, how are you?'' This is how they get
the information from them, and so they slowly get information
together on the senior citizen and then 1 day decide that they
will call back and say, ``This is Peter. This is your
grandchild. I have been in a terrible accident and I need money
to help start my medical--help pay for my medical expenses
while we wait for my insurance to be processed.'' Or, ``I was
arrested and I need money to get a lawyer to get out of jail.''
These older individuals fall for this and they send money to
them to help protect their family member, their grandchild,
whomever it may be. They prey upon their vulnerability in that
aspect.
Some of the things that we are seeing from law
enforcement's perspective to help in implementing these scams,
one is spoofing. Spoofing is--if you do not know, it is where a
criminal can--I am trying to think of the appropriate words--
disguise the telephone number that they are calling from. Say,
for instance, if they are pretending that they are IRS, they
can make it that the IRS number comes up on the Caller ID.
I actually just spoke to a senior center last week and we
were talking about scams and one individual raised her hand and
she said, ``I am not going to fall for it because I have Caller
ID. There is no way they could get past that.'' That is when I
started explaining to them, no. When they go on the Internet,
they--nowadays, you can go on and say, who is related to this
individual? They will come up with a list of family members,
and they can see the telephone number. They could have it come
up on your Caller ID, so when they are trying to implement the
grandparent scam, they then can have their grandchild's number
come up on the Caller ID, so these are just some of the
examples that we are seeing within Luzerne County of the
different type of scams that are taking place to prey upon our
residents, and I know that we are trying to keep it sort of
short, so I am going to stop there. There are different areas
that I do want to touch upon, maybe when you are asking
questions----
Senator Casey. Sure.
Ms. Salavantis [continuing]. like Western Union, MoneyPak.
These are different things that we need to start looking at
closely, because they are used in scams on a regular basis and
the public needs to be aware of that.
I will end there, and I want to thank you for giving me
this opportunity to sit and talk about this very important
topic.
Senator Casey. Well, I want to thank the District Attorney
for the testimony. As you know, your full written testimony
will be made part of the record.
I would say to our remaining witnesses, if you are able to
summarize, because both of your testimonies will be made part
of the record, just like the District Attorney. If you can
summarize in maybe 5 minutes or so, and then we can open it up
for questions.
Mary Roselle, thank you for being here.
STATEMENT OF MARY ROSELLE, EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR, AREA AGENCY ON AGING COUNTIES
FOR LUZERNE AND WYOMING
Ms. Roselle. Thank you. I would also like to thank you for
the opportunity to speak on this very important issue.
We live in a society where, unfortunately, scams are so
prevalent. People of all ages have fallen victim to these
predators. Any one of us can become a victim if we are not
aware.
Older adults are especially very embarrassed when they
become victims of the scams. As adults age, they lose so much
of their independence. They stop driving. They lose peers and
family members, and they become very vulnerable. They are a
very trusting generation and they genuinely want to help people
and believe that they want to help us. They want to help them,
also.
Unfortunately, we see so many times it is the caregivers
themselves, sometimes even the family members, the very people
that these older adults are putting all of their trust in, that
then are the ones taking advantage of them.
We are constantly hearing about someone taking advantage or
attempting to take advantage or scamming an older adult. Just a
few weeks ago, we received a call from the police alerting us
that a consumer in Wyoming County was wiring a very large sum
of money to Nigeria. This woman is in her 70's and fell victim
to a scam. The consumer said that she had to wire the money
because she met someone online that was in the military and he
wanted to marry her. She needed to wire the money to the
serviceman's friend in Nigeria so he could get it to the
military so the serviceman could come home.
Our Protective Service Unit explained to the consumer that
this was a scam and that the serviceman was not going to come
home to marry her, but she refused to believe us. She stated
that she did not want our help. Many older adults are lonely
and they just want that human contact. Again, they are trusting
individuals and cannot believe that someone would be dishonest.
We have been informed of many cases where contractors have
taken advantage of older adults. Sometimes, these individuals
are unable to make repairs on their own and they have no family
who are able to help. They are so thankful when they find a
contractor to help them that they are quick to give them a
deposit and truly believe that they will come back to perform
the work, but that never happens. Many times, these contractors
are then out of business or they start a business under a
different name. The money is gone and the consumer never
receives the repair.
We have also heard of consumers receiving calls that their
child or grandchild has been arrested or is traveling and is in
need of money immediately, as has been mentioned before. You
know, these consumers love their families, and again, they are
eager to help. They wire the money, and, of course, it is a
scam.
Several consumers have also reported receiving calls from
the Internal Revenue Service, as has been talked about already,
stating that they owed money. Again, to an older adult, they
hear the word IRS and they panic. They do not want to be in
trouble, so again, they send the money.
These are just a few examples. We fear that there are so
many more consumers that are affected, but they are afraid to
come forward for fear of their families and their peers looking
to take away even more of their independence.
Educating seniors about these scams is so important. We
have had Janene Holter, Special Senior Agent with the Office of
the Attorney General's Office, come into our adult active
centers to help make the seniors aware of current scams. Our
agency works with local banks and police, who make us aware of
the consumers that are then potentially affected. We report
this information to the Attorney General's office.
We are also able to discuss information with the Elder
Abuse Task Force, which has been mentioned here earlier. This
task force was started several years ago as an initiative to
help increase awareness. The members of the task force include
State representatives, the District Attorney, county
detectives, various legislators, educators from Temple
University, and members of various community agencies and law
enforcement. It is a great resource for us to discuss problems
and together resolve issues for older adults.
We again are very grateful to you, Senator, for allowing
our agencies to participate in this hearing. We continue to
need help with education and awareness to help protect the
older adults who for so many years have protected us. We have
identified several suggestions where, hopefully, we can receive
some help, and as members of the community can also help.
One suggestion is to have maybe a scam segment on a major
network. Many older adults watch the local news and a scam
segment can both educate them on what to be aware of and also
help the older adult understand that they are not alone in
being targeted so they will not be so embarrassed. Senior
centers also will continue to help educate and inform seniors
about these scams. We need to be made aware of them
immediately. Education is so important.
We continue to look forward to work with all members of the
community and legislature to help increase awareness and
protect all of us from falling victim to these scams.
Again, I thank you for this opportunity.
Senator Casey. Well, Mary, thank you very much for your
testimony.
Sarah Derhammer.
STATEMENT OF SARAH DERHAMMER,
VICTIM OF IDENTITY THEFT SCAM
Mrs. Derhammer. Okay. Good morning, everybody, and good
morning, Senator Casey. My name is Sarah Derhammer and I am
here today to tell my story of identity theft.
My husband, Melvin, and I were married for 43 years and we
have five beautiful children. We spent our lives in Kingston
Township raising our children and working hard. As you know, I
worked for Kentucky Fried Chicken for 15 years and Long John
Silver's for 12. My husband worked for Acernese Trucking for
over 23 years, so we worked hard to pay our bills and to keep
good credit to provide for our family.
Sadly, about 5 years ago, my husband passed away after
battling a lot of illnesses. This brings me to my story on
identity theft. In November 2015, I received a phone call from
my credit card company. They informed me that someone was using
my husband's card and racked up thousands of dollars in charges
to our account. Luckily, when my husband passed, I informed the
credit card company of his passing, so they contacted me about
the suspicious activities.
The company was wonderful in helping me through the
investigation process, which took approximately 4 months. The
credit card company informed me that they identified the
individual and they would take action in their hands. I was
luckily not responsible for any of the charges. Unfortunately,
many people who fall victim to identity theft do not get off
that easy.
The thief knew everything about my husband and family,
which was very concerning. He knew how long we were married,
how many children we had, and he even called the credit card
company when the account was frozen to see why the card was
declined. The company tried to get him to talk to his wife,
which was an attempt to get him on the phone with me, but he
refused and said we were separated and he did not want to talk
to me, obviously, all of which was untrue and an example of the
great lengths these thieves are willing to go to benefit from
stealing someone's identity.
I am here today to tell my story to encourage all
individuals to pay attention to your credit cards, your bank
accounts, Social Security numbers, and credit scores. Check and
please recheck. These thieves pry on individuals with good
credit, which makes hard-working people feel discouraged for
spending their life doing the right things so they do not
become victims of identity theft. Remember, even when you are
deceased, you and your family can still be victims of identity
theft.
Thank you for listening to my story and asking me to be a
part of this hearing.
Senator Casey. Well, Sarah, thanks very much for your
testimony and thanks for bringing your own personal story to
this, because unless we have witnesses like you that can
provide a personal perspective, for some people, this can seem
somewhat distant, so we are grateful you are willing to share
that story and I just wish you had not been a victim, as well,
but I think your testimony will help others maybe do the right
thing and avoid being scammed by listening to your directive to
both check and recheck. That is good advice for all of us.
Mrs. Derhammer. I mean, I could not afford to pay it all
back. Like I told the credit card, there was no way, and thank
God that I reported that he was deceased, so they took it into
their own hands. They were very good working with me.
Senator Casey. Well, thank you very----
Mrs. Derhammer. I can honestly say that.
Senator Casey. Thank you for your testimony.
I will try to get to each of our witnesses with questions.
I will start with the District Attorney on the question of
prosecution and how difficult it is to prosecute. If you were
to align the number of cases with the number of prosecutions
across the country, there would not be a good match there,
because we all know how difficult it is to pursue these scam
artists and the perpetrators of fraud, also difficult to make
the case stick and to get a conviction, but can you tell us a
little bit about the challenges that you face with regard to
these kinds of prosecutions.
Ms. Salavantis. Well, the challenge with regard to these
cases is the initial stage, the investigation stage, and as I
discussed earlier, it is very difficult for law enforcement to
actually be able to track these individuals who are scamming
our seniors, and a lot of the times, it helps me in talking
about Western Union and MoneyPak. A lot of times, these
scammers, these criminals, use Western Union, which they know
is a way to get around law enforcement being able to track
them.
An example is one that--a person came forward after she
believed she was scammed, and she said, ``I already sent a
Money Order through to Chicago. They said they were in Chicago.
I thought it was my grandchild. I found out it was not.'' She
said, is there any way that law enforcement can catch this
person, and we worked closely with the FBI and the U.S.
Attorney's Office and they sent Federal agents over to the
location that the Money Order was supposed to be located, but
because Western Union has the ability--it has 13,000 offices
throughout the world--they have the ability, if they have the
confirmation number, they could go to any one of those
locations and pick up that money.
When she sent it to Chicago, she believed that it was going
to Chicago, and when the Federal agents were sitting there
waiting for this person, male or female, to come in and pick up
this Money Order, the money, no one showed up. They already
picked it up at a different location.
This is an example of the obstacles law enforcement is
faced with in trying to catch these people who are preying on
our seniors, and Western Union is one name that I always tell
seniors, you hear someone say, well, can you wire me over money
through Western Union. Another big one is MoneyPak. You could
go into any major store, like Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, you
could get a MoneyPak. These are the two big companies that they
use in order to scam and receive the money from our seniors.
Going back to the question, it is very hard to get to the
prosecution of the case when you cannot even track down the
actual person who preyed upon and stole the money from our
seniors, and that is why it goes back to working closely with
our Federal agents, working with foreign partners and even the
financial industries, everybody working together and trying to
build a good relationship and collaborating on these cases in
order to be able to track some of these individuals down.
I think if we are able to do that, we can at least slow
down these criminal organizations or disband them, but until we
get to that point, all we could do at this point is make our
seniors aware of what is going on and educate, educate,
educate, and I think it goes back to what everybody is talking
about. I think maybe a national campaign, having more awareness
out there. IRS scams, they will not call you. These seniors, we
need to do more to educate them on what is going on in the
community, all of the scams that are taking place, and who to
call.
Senator Casey. Mm-hmm, and I guess a big part of it is just
to keep encouraging reporting, right?
Ms. Salavantis. Yes.
Senator Casey. If a senior feels--or gets a call or has
some kind of communication, to make sure they report. I guess
it is, when in doubt, report----
Ms. Salavantis. Exactly.
Senator Casey [continuing]. is probably one of the best
ways.
Ms. Salavantis. Can I just say one thing with that?
Senator Casey. Sure.
Ms. Salavantis. As people come in and they report it to our
office or law enforcement tells me what is going on, I
immediately try to issue a press release so the community is
made aware. The newspapers have been wonderful. The media has
been wonderful in getting that message out there, so as people
report, they can help someone else.
Senator Casey. You have got one full-time detective that
does nothing but this.
Ms. Salavantis. Correct.
Senator Casey. Mary, can I ask you, you heard about the
Senate Aging Committee kind of top ten scams. Just here in this
community, the community you serve, what do you think is the
No. 1 scenario or scheme that you see?
Ms. Roselle. Honestly, the grandparent scams.
Senator Casey. The grandparent.
Ms. Roselle. I mean, I think that, you know, these people
prey on the fact that, you know, these people want to help
their grandchildren----
Senator Casey. Right.
Ms. Roselle [continuing]. and they--it is unbelievable, the
information that they have. You know, they know where their
grandchild has been traveling, I mean, and that makes,
obviously, the older adult truly believe that that is what is
happening. They know that they are in Europe, or they know that
they are in California, and no one knows how they would ever
find that information out, so they believe them and they send
the money because they want to help them.
Senator Casey. So, you hear that a lot locally?
Ms. Roselle. We do. We do.
Senator Casey. Mm-hmm. Any--and I know you addressed this
in the testimony, but just for summary purposes, anything you
want to say in terms of education or encouraging people to
report?
Ms. Roselle. I mean, I really think it is important that,
sometimes, you know, it needs to be anonymous. You know, again,
these individuals are so embarrassed. You know, I mean, these
are people that are bankers. They are educators. I mean, they
are not people that have not had experience in the past dealing
with some of these things. They just cannot believe that it
would happen to them, and they cannot believe the information
that, again, that these people have, so I think it is
important.
I think the media, you know, can do a wonderful job of
helping us. You know, we, again, go into the senior centers all
the time to try to educate them. As soon as we know, we get the
word out to let people know, but you know, we really need to
educate them and help them understand that it is not just that.
I mean, we can fall victim to those scams, too. You know, they
are just--they are very proud people. They do not want people
to know, and they are so afraid that their son or their
daughter is going to find out. You know, they already took
their car away. They already want to be a signer on their
checking account, and now they are going to say, OK, you cannot
live by yourself because you have fallen victim to this scam,
and they are petrified of that.
Senator Casey. So you have seen it happen, that even people
that have spent their whole lives dealing with some of these
issues can still be a victim----
Ms. Roselle. We have. We have.
Senator Casey. It is understandable that people would feel
embarrassed, but we want to keep encouraging them to try to set
that aside and report so they can track these people down.
Sarah, when you ran into the problem where your husband--in
this case, it is your husband's identity stolen-----
Mrs. Derhammer. Right.
Senator Casey [continuing]. what resources did you have
available to you, and is there anything about your experience
that you hope we would learn more in terms of having additional
resources or additional ways to help?
Mrs. Derhammer. To help with--to stop it, is that what you
mean?
Senator Casey. To stop, and to investigate it.
Mrs. Derhammer. Yes. You have to call, when you lose a
spouse, through your bank accounts, your credit cards, or
whatever is going on, to let them know, because, like I said,
the credit card, I called the credit card company and let them
know that my--and if I did not call, she said it would have
been possible that I would have been charged for all those--and
I could never pay for the thousands of dollars that he charged,
you know.
Senator Casey. Mm-hmm.
Mrs. Derhammer. This is what you have got to do. You have
got to check and you have got to recheck. I should have--they
had it, but they had to go back through their computers to make
sure that I called letting them know that my husband was
deceased.
Senator Casey. Mm-hmm.
Mrs. Derhammer. If I did not make that call, I could have
been responsible for all those charges.
Senator Casey. Mm-hmm. What----
Mrs. Derhammer. Or I would have had a lot of testimony to
go through, you know, that I did not have nothing to do with
it.
Senator Casey. Well, that is a good----
Mrs. Derhammer. That saved me a lot on that big end, you
know what I am saying.
Senator Casey. That is a good lesson for all of us.
Mrs. Derhammer. Yes. Like I said, I told the bank, which I
had to change, take his name off the account. I had to call our
bank and with the credit cards, all our resources, to let them
know that my husband was deceased, and if I did not make those
calls, I could have been in a lot of serious trouble.
Senator Casey. Well, Sarah, thank you for your testimony.
We are grateful you are with us and giving us this information
about your own experience. It is hard to talk about something
that happened to your own family----
Mrs. Derhammer. Right.
Senator Casey [continuing]. and we are grateful.
Mary, thank you, and to the District Attorney, we are
grateful that you are here and working on these issues every
day.
I want to thank not just our panel members, but the
audience, as well. If we had more time, we would do some
questions and feedback from the audience, but I am being given
the hook, and they are telling me I am late already, and I want
to make sure that we have time to say hello on the way out, but
we are grateful for your testimony.
Just to be official so we can adjourn, this Special
Committee on Aging is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:40 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]
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APPENDIX
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Prepared Witness Statements
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