THE NEW YORK TIMES: Criminals on the internet are increasingly going after Americans over the age of 60 because they are viewed as having the largest piles of savings.
For nearly three months, Barry Heitin, a 76-year-old retired lawyer, thought he was part of a government investigation that felt like something out of the movies. He was actually assisting criminals in stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars — of his own money.
Last fall, he spent just about every weekday doing the legwork and making withdrawals from his bank accounts as part of an intricate scam: He believed he was helping the feds safeguard his money and catch thieves who were after it.
“They kept telling me, ‘This is a big case and we are going to stop a whole ring of people,’” Mr. Heitin said. “It was like a rabbit hole. I was going down the hole with them.”
It cost him almost all of his retirement savings: roughly $740,000.
Americans spend a lot of energy saving for retirement and worrying about losing money to the gyrations of the stock market. But these days, sophisticated criminals — on dating sites, on social media, in messaging apps or using malicious software — present an ever-growing risk to people and their savings. » | Tara Siegel Bernard | Tara Siegel Bernard spoke to people who’ve fallen victim to scams that target savings of Americans, particularly older adults. This article is the first in a series. | Monday, July 29, 2024
