{"id":125915,"date":"2026-02-28T09:04:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T09:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125915\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T09:04:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T09:04:24","slug":"why-pennsylvania-seniors-are-losing-millions-to-tech-enabled-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125915\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Pennsylvania seniors are losing millions to tech-enabled scams"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tIn Pennsylvania, more than 4,000 scam-related complaints were filed in 2025 as residents lost more than $76 million to scammers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kate Kleinert wasn\u2019t looking for love.<\/p>\n

Widowed for 11 years and isolated during the COVID-19 lockdown, she rarely accepted social media friend requests from strangers. But one day, she clicked \u201caccept\u201d on a request from a handsome man in a white medical coat. He called himself Tony.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had studied my profile on Facebook and he knew a great deal about me,\u201d Kleinert said during a recent meeting of the Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee. \u201cEvery single night he called and would ask, \u2018How was your day, honey?\u2019 No one had asked me that since my husband had passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over several months, Tony gained Kleinert\u2019s trust and love. He learned the names of her six hospice dogs. He recognized their barks in the background when they talked. He always called her \u201choney,\u201d \u201csweetheart,\u201d or \u201cbabe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he started asking for money. Small requests at first, Kleinert said, a $50 or $100 gift card here and there. Then Tony asked for airfare to come see her. She bought him a ticket.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd of course, he never showed,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce I realized I was being scammed, my heart shattered. Losing the money is devastating. Losing the love and the life I thought I was gonna have, that was more than I could handle, and I cried for days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kleinert\u2019s story is painfully personal. But it is not rare.<\/p>\n

A fast-growing crisis in Pennsylvania and beyond<\/p>\n

Scams targeting seniors have increased significantly thanks to social media platforms like Facebook.<\/p>\n

\u201cFraud is not new and older adults have long been targeted,\u201d said Mike Crossey, president of the Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans. \u201cBut the scale, speed, and sophistication of scams today is unlike anything we have ever seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal data shows that in 2024, nationwide, seniors reported $12.5 billion in losses from online scams, a 25% increase from the year before. Social media is now the leading contact method for fraud targeting older users, both in number of cases and total amount lost.<\/p>\n

In Pennsylvania, more than 4,000 scam-related complaints were filed in 2025 as residents lost more than $76 million to scammers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And those numbers likely undercount the damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FBI says that many scams go underreported because victims feel embarrassed, ashamed, or unsure of where to turn,\u201d Crossey said.<\/p>\n

Kleinert understands that shame. When she worked up the courage to call the police, she said she was met with indifference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called the state police and a woman answered, and I was so relieved,\u201d Kleinert said. \u201cAnd when I started to tell her what was going on, she stopped me and said, \u2018Why are you calling here? There\u2019s no crime here. You willingly gave him that money, hun.\u2019 And she hung up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kleinert\u2019s relief quickly turned to embarrassment.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have no idea how much courage it takes to make those phone calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social media is a \u2018playground for scammers\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yosef Getachew, senior policy counsel at Reset Tech, a nonprofit organization that aims to protect democratic societies by countering digital threats, said that today\u2019s scam epidemic is calculated.<\/p>\n

\u201cTech-enabled scams are not accidental,\u201d Getachew said. \u201cThey are design choices and business decisions that specifically prioritize profit and engagement over user safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2021, US consumers have reported $2.7 billion in scam losses originating on social media platforms, according to the Federal Trade Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s become a playground for scammers,\u201d Getachew said, pointing to unsolicited friend requests, direct messages, ad targeting tools, algorithmic recommendations, phony\u00a0 groups, and fake pages.<\/p>\n

Kleinert\u2019s experience began with a single unsolicited friend request. Others have been tricked by fake online storefronts impersonating real companies. Crossey described a Philadelphia retiree, Kathy, who received a phone call that appeared to come from her bank. The caller, using a spoofed phone number, convinced her to read aloud security codes sent to her phone. Within minutes, $1,500 was transferred out of her account.<\/p>\n

Crossey said Kathy immediately contacted her bank and was able to be reimbursed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat story has a positive ending,\u201d Crossey said. \u201cMost do not.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI tools are making things even worse, experts say. AI can clone voices, generate \u201cdeepfake\u201d videos, and scrape public profile data to craft hyper-personalized scams, Getachew said. Social media platforms provide both the personal material and the distribution network to target seniors all over the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly alarming and dangerous,\u201d Getachew said.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania safeguards struggle to keep up with online schemes\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania has consumer protection tools, but new digital threats arise every day that are not addressed by those protections.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law allows the Attorney General\u2019s Office to investigate deceptive practices and bring enforcement actions. There is also a Bureau of Consumer Protection<\/a> where residents can file complaints online or by phone.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s Older Adults Protective Services Act provides avenues to report financial exploitation of seniors, and local Agencies on Aging<\/a> offer assistance and referrals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the federal level, certain electronic fund transfer protections can require banks to reimburse consumers for unauthorized transactions if reported quickly, as in Kathy\u2019s case. But reimbursement is not guaranteed, especially in cases where victims are manipulated into authorizing payments themselves.<\/p>\n

Digital literacy is also a barrier to consumer protection. Kleinert said she didn\u2019t even know she could report the scam she\u2019d been targeted by to the social media platform where it began.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know where to report what was happening or whether anyone would respond,\u201d Kleinert said.<\/p>\n

Advocates call for stronger safeguards from lawmakers\u00a0<\/p>\n

Getachew said lawmakers should require platforms to prioritize safety by default, with stronger privacy settings, data minimization to limit how much personal information is publicly accessible, and more robust identity verification to prevent scam ads and fake accounts.<\/p>\n

He believes platforms should be required to respond meaningfully when users report scams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from so many scam victims that either they don\u2019t know they can report scams on social media, or if they do, they never get a response back,\u201d Getachew explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crossey said that education campaigns are important but insufficient.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation alone cannot solve a problem that is operating at industrial scales,\u201d Crossey said. \u201cWe need legislators and regulators to create stronger safeguards, stronger enforcement tools, and to demand greater accountability from the technology platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crossey\u2019s organization has launched a yearlong \u201cStop the Scam<\/a>\u201d campaign to educate Pennsylvania seniors about warning signs and digital safety. But he emphasized that \u201cprotecting retirement security in the modern world requires more than helping avoid scams. It requires building a digital world that is safer by design.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wrapping victims in support<\/p>\n

After being scammed by Tony, Kleinert didn\u2019t have money to make repairs on her home. In July 2022, she lost everything in a house fire. Kleinert suffered burns and had to be taken to the hospital. Her six dogs did not make it out.<\/p>\n

Determined to help others, Kleinert founded Kate\u2019s Hug, a project that provides blankets and resources to victims of romance scams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something warm to wrap around themselves when this has happened, and for them to know that they\u2019re not alone,\u201d Kleinert said. \u201cThe catch is I give these kits to law enforcement free of charge so they can give the kit to the victim. And law enforcement and the victim look at each other differently after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kleinert said she shares her story \u201cnot to embarrass myself, but to shine a light on how social media can be used by scammers to target victims and build trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith just a few clicks, a stranger can identify that I was a widow, view my interests, learn enough about my life to craft a believable story tailored specifically to me,\u201d Kleinert said. \u201cThese people are tremendously good at what they do, and the platforms make it easier for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ashley <\/p>\n

\n In her 16 years in the communications industry, Ashley Adams has worn many hats, including news reporter, public relations writer, marketing specialist, copy editor and technical writer. Ashley grew up in Berks County and has since returned to her roots to raise her three children. <\/p>\n

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