In 2018, the United States Justice Department launched a nationwide campaign against senior fraudsters–the largest such sweep in history.  Over 200 senior scammers–responsible for victimizing over a million Americans–have been identified and brought to justice.  Through their financial schemes alone, victims lost over half a billion dollars.

This year, the Justice Department’s sweeps were even more successful than last.  Over 260 defendants were charged with allegedly defrauding over two million Americans for over three quarters of a billion dollars.

Among other types of scams, the sweep focused specifically on identifying tech support scammers, consistently one of the most damaging scams targeting seniors.

In order to crack down on senior scammers, the Justice Department is a multi-prong attack, working with overseas governments to stop bogus foreign call centers, catching and stopping international “money mules,” and coordinating with the United States Postal Service to intercept payments sent to scammers.

In a press conference led by United States Attorney General William Barr, the Justice Department presents the results of their senior scam crack-down and explains how the government is fighting back against senior scammers.