the FBI is warning Americans of an uptick in scams targeting older people according to the agency's latest fraud report scammer stole roughly $3.4 billion dollar out from Seniors last year investigators say it may be just the tip of the iceberg and a new survey put together by AARP backs up the concerns showing a stunning amount of adults have had personal experience with fraud the state director of AARP New Jersey, Chris Widelo joins me with more on what scams to look for and how you can prevent it Chris thanks for coming on I'm curious to know what type of scams are we seeing that are most prevalent uh affecting older Americans older New Jersey residents sure thanks for having me Brianna um I I think scams we find are uh impacting four and 10 uh Americans and uh you know they range from uh male to uh even online which is uh one of the U ones that we see the most of so why are they being targeted is it because they are presumed to have chunks of retirement savings these nest eggs is that why folks are fraudsters are going after them yeah honestly they do have you know they tend to have um some income and they or they have some savings and you know these frauders are just very well trained in in doing this um you know they've they've really taken the time to come up with these scams that um you know may see seem legitimate right like they might seem like a legitimate ask or something that's too good to be true and often uh people kind of fall under this ether of uh you know you're missing out or you know there's this really great opportunity and I need to take advantage of it I don't want to miss out um and they don't do their homework okay so give us some examples of the types of scams you've seen or signs that folks should look for if they do get pinged in their email or you know worse a phone call so the good news is many older adults are now aware of things where you're making a a very quick financial decision um and you're being asked to send you know a gift card or a cryptocurrency they people are now recognizing that that is not the way to do a business but I I think that the best thing that folks can do is that if the information is being pushed out to them somebody asking them for information um to really do your homework and to go and look and TR make sure that you're uh you know interacting with someone or something that's legitimate even if it's a a trusted company go to their website and look for the safe way to to do business uh but you know if you're receiving phone calls emails uh and you did not solicit those uh emails or phone calls chances are they could be fraudulent yeah so don't react think before you do so but as you said some of these scams are really sophisticated they're using AI you know mimicking people's voices those of of a loved one so what are other ways that folks can protect themselves sure so I'd like to invite folks to check out our fraud watch Network at aarp.org fraudwatch network and on that page they have a list of uh some of the latest scams and what to look out for um you know don't make a uh I think a a decision you know in the moment you know take a deep breath uh think about you know does this sound legitimate right often we hear about the grandparents scam right my child my grandchild's hurt and like you said with AI they can uh you know they can replicate voices and things like this so um we need to make sure that you you know do your homework check in with that loved one and you know make sure that they're they're in fact safe but don't make any rash decisions um you know take the time to um make sure that things are are um legitimate it's good advice Chris wedell is the state director for AARP New Jersey Chris thanks so much thanks for having me [Music]