Paul Davis: Elder abuse scams
In my last piece posted here, I recalled a couple of my encounters with victims of elder abuse, and I offered tips from the FBI on how to avoid becoming a victim of elder abuse.
June 15th was World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and the FBI released crime prevention tips for senior citizens, their families and caretakers.
“Elder abuse — whether through fraud, neglect, or exploitation — has a devastating impact on victims, their families, and the broader community,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia field office. “World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is a reminder of our responsibility to protect older Americans. It’s a chance to reaffirm our commitment to investigating those who prey on the vulnerable, to educate the public on how to safeguard themselves and their loved ones, and to encourage victims to come forward and report scams and abuse to the FBI.”
The FBI explained that the abuse of older Americans can come in various forms, to include physical, emotional, mental, or financial exploitation. According to the 2024 Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Elder Fraud Report, the FBI received over 147,000 complaints from victims over the age of 60, with reported losses of approximately $4.8 billion. In 2024, Pennsylvanians over the age of 60 filed over 6,300 complaints of various frauds and scams with over $151 million in reported losses.
Earlier this month, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Elder Justice Unit announced charges against Quay Fetherson for defrauding fifteen intellectually challenged Philadelphia seniors from 2018 to 2024.
Fetherson’s charges include fifteen counts of Financial Exploitation of a Care Dependent Person, Identity Theft, Theft by Unlawful Taking, Theft by Deception, and Forgery.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Fetherson, who served as a “fiscal liaison” for Community Options, a non-profit service provider for adults with intellectual disabilities, including those with IQs below 70, used his access to the victims’ bank accounts to enrich himself.
“Fetherson is alleged to have issued checks from victims’ accounts, had the victims sign checks, forged victims’ signatures, transported victims to the bank to withdraw the funds, and then stolen a portion or the entirety of the withdrawn amount,” the DA’s office stated. “His scheme was uncovered in May 2024 when his replacement performed an audit and discovered discrepancies in the accounts. Fetherson is alleged to have embezzled over $100,000 from his victims.”
Fetherson was arrested on May 27 and arraigned the same day. Unsecured bail was set at a total of $375,000.
“Mr. Fetherson violated the trust placed in him by his employers, his victims, and the larger community,” said Assistant District Attorney Alexander Blumenthal, Supervisor of the DA’s Elder Justice Unit. “I want to thank Community Options for bringing this crime to light, Detective Nicholas Halbherr of the Philadelphia Police Department for thoroughly investigating this complex case, and Assistant District Attorney Gillian Dagress, who assisted with the investigation, charged Mr. Fetherson, and will be prosecuting the case. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office fully intends to hold this defendant accountable for his brazen and corrupt actions.”
In yet another case of elder abuse fraud, Pranav Patel, a New Jersey resident, was sentenced to prison for his involvement in an elder fraud scheme.
On June 11th in Tampa, Florida, U.S. District Judge William F. Jung sentenced Patel to six years and three months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering. The court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $1,791,301, the proceeds of the offense. Patel pleaded guilty on December 23, 2024.
According to court documents, between October and December 2023, Patel was involved in a fraud scheme targeting senior citizens. Conspirators involved in the scheme called from call centers abroad and fraudulently identified themselves as government agents such as officers from the United States Department of the Treasury. In some instances, the conspirators told victims that there were outstanding warrants for their arrest, and they needed to pay to clear the warrants. On other occasions, the conspirators told victims that they needed to provide their money and gold to the officers for safekeeping.
“Patel served as a money mule in the fraud scheme. He drove from New Jersey to pick up money and gold from senior citizens in the Middle District of Florida and elsewhere along the east coast of the United States. During the sentencing hearing, one victim from whom Patel picked up fraud proceeds advised the court that because of the scam, he was unable to afford his mortgage payments, had to sell his house, and had to depend on Social Security benefits for all of his living expenses,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida stated.
“In December 2023, Patel traveled to a residence in Hillsborough County to retrieve what he believed was a box of gold. Unbeknownst to Patel, he did so while under law enforcement surveillance, and Patel was promptly arrested after picking up the box. In total, Patel laundered $1,791,301 as part of the fraud scheme.”
Robert Engel, the U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge of the Tampa Field Office, noted, “Preying on vulnerable, unsuspecting elderly victims to rob them of their hard-earned money is despicable. Even worse, the defendant’s co-conspirators posed as government agents to defraud victims of nearly $2 million, threatening them with arrest if they didn’t follow their demands.”
Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes an online Crime Beat column. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com.
