Attorney General Bondi’s Weekly Briefing

6/16/18

Florida is home to more than three million seniors. Many retire to Florida, bringing with them a lifetime of memories, wisdom and their life savings. Too often scammers target our seniors in an effort to steal their hard-earned retirement money. This is despicable.

Our seniors deserve honor and respect. They served in WWII and Korea, made the economy boom and played a major role in strengthening our state and nation. Anyone who preys on these great citizens in their golden years is lower than dirt, and my office will aggressively investigate anyone targeting them.

Just this week, working with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, we stopped a scam targeting Spanish-speaking seniors in grocery store parking lots. The scammers claimed to have a winning lottery ticket that they could not claim because of immigration status.

According to the investigation, once the defendants convinced a victim to help—they asked to borrow collateral in the form of cash or jewelry, in order to claim the prize. In total, the defendants are charged with stealing more than $150,000 in cash and $34,000 in jewelry from more than a dozen victims in their 60s to late 80s.

My Office of Statewide Prosecution will prosecute these defendants to the fullest extent of the law and I want to thank Sheriff Chad Chronister and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for fighting fraud and protecting seniors.

In closing, today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and as this case highlights our seniors, too often, are the victims of financial abuse. To fight fraud against seniors, I publish a guide full of consumer tips. Take a few minutes to review the guide, SmartConsumersSeniorsGuide and please, share it with anyone you believe would benefit from the information inside.