Crime
Scammers steal billions from Americans every 12 months. What’s worse is that most scammers get away with it

The cheaters win.
Sophisticated foreign criminals steal tens of billions of dollars from Americans every year, and the crime wave is expected to accentuate because the U.S. population ages and technologies like artificial intelligence make it easier than ever to commit fraud and get away with it.
Online and telephone scams have grown “exponentially,” overwhelming police and prosecutors who’re catching and convicting relatively few perpetrators, said Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention at AARP’s Fraud Watch Network.
Victims rarely get their a reimbursement. This includes seniors who’ve lost their life savings in marriage scams, grandchild scams, tech support scams, and other common scams.
“We’re at a crisis level of fraud in society,” Stokes said. “So many people have joined the fight because it’s pretty easy to be a criminal. They don’t have to follow any rules. And you can make a lot of money, and then there’s very little chance of getting caught.”
A recent case from Ohio through which an 81-year-old man fell victim to a scammer and allegedly responded with violence illustrates the challenge law enforcement faces.
Police say a person fatally shot an Uber driver after wrongly assuming she was involved in a plot to swindle $12,000 in alleged bail money for a relative. The driver fell victim to the identical scammer, sent to a house halfway between Dayton and Columbus to select up a package for delivery, in response to authorities.
Homeowner William Brock has been charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting at Lo-Letha Hall on March 25, however the conman who threatened Brock over the phone and set off the tragic chain of events stays at large greater than three months later.
Brock pleaded not guilty, claiming he feared for his life.
Scammers taking advantage
Internet and telephone crimes have turn into so common that law enforcement and adult protective services should not have enough resources to maintain up.
“It’s kind of like drinking from a fire hose,” said Brady Finta, a former FBI agent who oversaw investigations into elder fraud. “There’s so much of it, logistically and rationally, that it’s almost impossible to overcome now.”
Crimes may be difficult to analyze, especially those that originate overseas, where stolen funds are quickly converted into hard-to-trace cryptocurrency or transferred to offshore bank accounts.
Some police departments don’t take financial fraud as seriously as other crimes, which discourages and demoralizes victims, said Paul Greenwood, who has spent 22 years prosecuting seniors in San Diego.
“A lot of law enforcement thinks that because a victim is sending money voluntarily through gift cards or bank transfers or buying cryptocurrency, that it’s actually consensual,” said Greenwood, who travels the country teaching police tips on how to spot scams. “And that’s a big mistake, because it’s not. It’s not consensual. They’ve been scammed.”
Greenwood said federal prosecutors typically don’t intervene in a case until the fraud reaches a specific amount.
The U.S. Justice Department says it doesn’t impose a general monetary threshold for federal elder abuse prosecutions. But it acknowledged that a number of the 93 U.S. attorneys’ offices across the country may set their very own thresholds, giving priority to cases with more victims or greater financial impact. Federal prosecutors bring tons of of elder fraud and abuse cases every year.
The Federal Trade Commission says the “vast majority” of scams go unreported. Often, victims are reluctant to come back forward.
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A 74-year-old woman who was recently charged with robbing a credit union north of Cincinnati was the victim of a web based scam, in response to her family. Authorities say they consider the lady was taken advantage of by the scammer, but there is no record that she filed a proper police report.
“These people are very good at what they do, and they are very good at scamming people and getting money out of them,” said Fairview Township, Ohio, police sergeant Brandon McCroskey, who investigated the robbery. “I’ve seen people almost want to fight with police and bank tellers because … they believe they have to get that money out.”
A destructive plan
Older people have more wealth as a gaggle and are a vulnerable goal for fraudsters. The effects may be devastating because lots of these victims are past their working years and don’t have much time to recoup their losses.
The variety of complaints about elder fraud filed with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center increased 14% last 12 months, while losses increased 11% to $3.4 billion, in response to a brand new report from the FBI.
Other estimates put the annual loss much higher.
A 2023 AARP study calculated that Americans over 60 lose $28.3 billion a 12 months to fraud. The Federal Trade Commission, attempting to account for unreported losses, estimated that fraudsters stole a staggering $137 billion in 2022, including $48 billion from seniors. The study’s authors acknowledged there is a “significant degree of uncertainty.”
In San Diego, William Bortz, 80, said criminals stole nearly $700,000 of his family’s savings in an elaborate scheme involving a nonexistent Amazon order, a fake “returns processing center” in Hong Kong, fake bank statements and directions that Bortz must “sync bank accounts” to get the a reimbursement.
Bortz’s scammer was relentless and harassed him, harassing him with dozens of phone calls, and at one point took control of his computer.
Even though he was the victim of a criminal offense, Bortz struggles with guilt.
“Now I understand why so many elder abuse scams never get reported. Because when you think about it, you think, ‘How could I have been so stupid?’” said Bortz, who retired after a profession in banking, financial services and real estate.
His daughter, Ave Williams, said local police and the FBI tried hard to trace down the foreign fraudster and get well the cash but bumped into dead ends. The family blames Bortz’s bank, which Williams says ignored multiple red flags and allowed her father to make several large transfers over an eight-day period. The bank has denied wrongdoing, and the family’s lawsuit against it has been dismissed.
“Fraudsters are getting better,” Williams said. “We need our law enforcement agencies to be given the tools they need, and we need our banks to get better because they are the first line of defense.”
The Justice Department believes the industry must do more and the United States is not going to discover a strategy to resolve the difficulty through the courts.
“Private industry — including technology, retail, banking, fintech and telecommunications — must make it harder for fraudsters to defraud victims and launder victims’ money,” the agency said in an announcement to The Associated Press.
The way forward
Banking industry officials told a Senate subcommittee in May that they were investing heavily in latest technologies to stem fraud, “and some of them are very promising.” The American Bankers Association says it is working on a program to coordinate real-time communications amongst banks to higher flag suspicious activity and curb the flow of stolen funds.
But industry officials said banks can’t prevent fraud on their very own. They said the U.S. needs an overarching national technique to combat fraud, calling the federal government’s current efforts scattershot and uncoordinated.
Law enforcement and industry need to affix forces to combat fraud faster and more effectively, said Finta, a former FBI agent who founded a nonprofit called the National Elder Fraud Coordination Center aimed toward strengthening cooperation between law enforcement and huge corporations equivalent to Walmart, Amazon and Google.
“There are very, very smart people and there are very powerful, wealthy companies that want this to stop,” he said. “So I think we have an opportunity to make a bigger impact and help our brothers and sisters in law enforcement who are struggling with this tsunami of fraud.”
Crime
Sean “Diddy” Combs rejects the final contract due to the trial on sexual trade

Sean “Diddy” Combs rejected his last probability to avoid a sexual trade process.
During the hearing on Thursday, a 55-year-old disgraced music mogel confirmed that he didn’t accept transactions of federal prosecutors, NBC News Reported.
Asked by the district judge Arun Subramanian, who led in New York, if he rejected the government’s offer, Diddy said: “Yes, your honor.”
After consulting his legal team, led by lawyer Marc Agnifilo, he didn’t plead five charges covering tribute, two cases of sexual trade and two cases of transport so as to become involved in prostitution. He denied all the allegations that were brought to him in quite a few lawsuits, wherein he accused or forced people to take part in sexual files and drug -powered sexuals.
If Diddy is found guilty, he faces an extended time behind bars. If he’s convicted of racketeers, he stands in the face of life in prison. If he’s found guilty of two allegations of sexual trade, he’s in the face of a further at the least 15 years. Meanwhile, transport for the purposes of prostitution fees has a maximum judgment of 10 years.

Details of the allegation agreement haven’t been disclosed; However, at the least one lawyer noticed NBC that it was related to a smaller sentence.
Thursday’s interrogation was the last before selecting a jury in the process, which is to start on May 5. Opening declarations to the trial are to start on May 12. The initial technique of jury began on Monday, April 28, and tons of of New Yorkers were received by questionnaires to determine their impartiality.
While Diddy, who was waiting for the trial in Brooklyn since his arrest in September, appeared in court during a trial in prison, in accordance with BBC NewsThe music director was allowed to wear “non -disconneous clothing” during the trial.
The judicial order specifies that COBS will “allow five button shirts, up to five pairs of pants, up to five sweaters, up to five pairs of socks and up to two pairs of shoes without lace in court”, according to BBC.
According to sales, this movement just isn’t unusual. The accused can often wear their very own clothes during trials, because prison clothes may cause some sworn to see crime by nature.

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Crime
Shooting at Elizabeth City State University leaves 1 dead, 6 wounded

A 24-year-old man was killed at the Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) campus throughout the shooting on Sunday, April 27. Shooting at the Historically Black University campus at Elizabeth City in North Carolina, also hurt six others.
HBCU published statement Explaining that the shooting took place after the Yard Fest, an event that was a part of the larger Viking Fest festival, a weekly celebration of the college spirit within the campus.
“Six people were injured during the incident. Four durable gunshot wounds, including three ECSU students,” confirmed the university. “In addition, two other ECSU students were injured during the next confusion. Fortunately, none of the injuries is considered life -threatening, and all injured were transported to the local hospital for treatment.”

A 24-year-old man who was not an ECSU student was recognized as deceased. His identity is suspended in anticipation of notification of his closest relative ” – read the statement.
(*1*)
The man who died was identified as Isaiah Caldwell, According to State Bureau of Investigation.
“ECSU expands its deepest sympathies for everyone affected by this tragic event and remains involved in ensuring the security and well -being of the Viking community,” he summed up the ECSU statement.
Caldwell was a member of the University of Albany 2021 of the Social Organization of Scholarship Organization, Groove Phi Groove; organization He confirmed his departure through social media on Monday.
“With deep sadness and the deepest sympathy, we inform you concerning the premature passage of our beloved brother, Isaiah Caldwell (autumn 21 – great chapter data). Isaiah was tragically taken from the senseless and non -discriminatory violence from the pistol in Elżbiebeth City State University at Vikingfest at the University of State University University University.
Following shooting, the University moved to distant education for the remaining weeks of the spring semester, in keeping with Virginian-Pilot.

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Crime
Pro footballer is hiding when the loved ones kidnapped in connection with the growing crime in Ecuador, the family returned safely


Wife and young son of Afro-Elecadorian skilled football Jackson Rodríguez They were secure The authorities saved by the police on April 24 confirmed, after shocking kidnapping from their house, Guayaquil. The incident in which the 26-year-old Rodríguez hid under his bed, when armed men abducted his family, he emphasizes the escalating Ecuador of uncertain uncertainty.
Police commander Pablo Dávila informed on Friday that the 24-year-old wife of Rodríguez and a five-year-old son received medical care after their dismissal and weren’t semi-bad. Insolent kidnapping He occurred early On April 24, when 4 “with a hood and heavily armed people” entered the family’s residence in the Mucho Lete district in this unstable coastal city.
According to Dávila, the kidnappers demanded a ransom of USD 500,000 for a secure return of mother and child, which the family refused to fulfill. Rodríguez, a left defender for the Emelec first division club, fully collaborated with investigators.
After intensive police operations, the abducted couple was in the “El Fortín” sector, densely populated and notoriously dangerous area in the north -western Guayaquil. . has gained an area The gloomy publicity in March, when the brutal massacre consumed the lives of twenty-two people, which is a transparent illustration of violence harassing the city. Guayaquil, positioned about 270 kilometers (170 miles) southwest of the capital of Ecuador, Quito, became the focus of the spiral wave of crime of the nation. According to law enforcement officers, its strategic port is the major channel for illegal drug shipments intended for Europe, Central America and the United States.
The kidnapping appeared against the background of the emergency declared only ten days earlier by the Ecuador government during nine provinces, including Guayas, where Guayaquil is positioned. This emergency measure authorizes the distribution of security forces to combat the growing operations of organized crime groups, which the authorities attribute to a rise in violence.
Uncertainty and crime have forged an extended shadow over the Ecuador over the past 4 years, with a transparent escalation in the early months of 2025. Government statistics reveal the stunning 2345 violent deaths reported throughout January to March, with a disproportionate 742 of those appearing in Guayaquil itself. The port city is now gloomy as one in all the most dangerous urban centers in the country.
Tragically Rodríguez and his family are usually not the first athletes who were the goal of this wave of violence. In December 2024, Pedro Perza, footballer for the de quito league, He was kidnapped Esmeraldas, city 182 kilometers northwest of Quito. He was saved alive a number of days later, emphasizing the susceptibility with which even outstanding characters face.
In his police testimonies, the head of Édison Rodriguez (with no relationship with the victim) stated that 26-year-old Fullback told him, hiding under the bed after hearing a brutal compulsory entrance to his house around 3 am the perpetrator, after determining the absence of Rodríguez, he abducted his wife and child. The player was reportedly witnessing the kidnappers escaping in a gray double cabin pickup.
The last list data from 2022 from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) has revealed an inclination for the Afro-Elecadorian community. While the census indicated a rise in the population of Mestizo, Native and Montubio, the variety of self-identification people as Afro-Elecadorian has fallen significantly in comparison with the 2010 census. The universal list in 2022 recorded 814 495 Africanadorian, which is 4.8% of the total population, which is a transparent contrast of 1,041,559 people, i.e. 7.2%, who identified themselves as Afro-Elecadorian in the 2010 list.
Africaader organizations challenged these official data, estimating that the black population is closer to 10 percent. They cite problems with performing a universal list, especially in areas affected by violence, in which the survey work proved to be difficult, which results in infirmity. And vice versa, the Ecuadorian government assigns a reported reduction in the issue of self -identification and lack of organizations in black communities.
Historically Afro-Elecadorians who First of all, he lives In the northern Coastal Province of Esmeraldas, in addition to in Guayas and other south-center coastal regions, they encountered systemic marginalization despite their significant cultural contribution. While slave ships got here to Ecuador for the first time in 1526, and the enslaved Africans worked on gold plantations and mines, the abolition of slavery in 1851 didn’t erase the lasting consequences of this brutal socio-economic system.
Africaadorian awareness gained momentum at the end of the twentieth century, which led to the recognition of Afro-Elecadorian as a separate ethnic group in the 1998 structure. However, critics indicate periods of instability and misunderstandings regarding the management of the individual.
Despite some political reforms and declarations of October 2 as Afro-Elecadorian, socio-economic indicators reveal that Afro-Elecadorians Still behind Their white/mestizo counterparts, in the face of everlasting unevenness and racial discrimination, especially in urban areas. Africaader women, in particular, experience disproportionately high level of violence.
The Working Group of the United Nations for African Zdechów also expressed fears, stating in 2019 that the Afro-Dessers constitute a surprising 40 percent of the population living in poverty in Ecuador, despite the much lower overall percentage. The UN body also criticized the denial of their rights to the clean environment, access to justice, education and decent work, emphasizing environmental racism affecting the Afro-Descendant community.
The recent kidnapping of the Rodriguez family is a transparent reminder of the ubiquitous ecuador of uncertain uncertainty and special gaps in security, in which marginalized communities struggle, including Africanadorians as a part of this crisis. While the secure rescue of his wife and son offers a ray of hope, he emphasizes the urgent need for effective government actions to unravel the original causes of escalation and ensuring the safety and well -being of all its residents.
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