How AI Scammers Target Seniors And How To Stop Them

We go inside the fastest-growing scams hitting seniors, from AI voice clones to bank impersonations, and break the shame that keeps families quiet. District Attorney Summer Stephan shares how our task force links cases, what to report, and a simple script that stops fraud in its tracks.

• why smart people still fall for layered scams
• how tech support pop-ups lead to bank impersonation
• the power of reporting to police and ic3.gov
• why scammers target seniors’ savings, not their smarts
• AI voice cloning and the family code solution
• the stop, hang up, tell someone method
• policy gaps on spoofed caller IDs and platform duties
• red flag lightning round for common scenarios
• supporting loved ones through third-party voices
• One Safe Place services, language access, and virtual court help

If you're listening, take two minutes today and talk to someone in your family about scams. Hit that subscribe button and make sure to follow us. And if you've got a question for Let's Get Gritty, leave it in the comments or send it to podcast at antoniamoranda.com

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🎙️ Hosts: Ilona Antonyan & Mila Arutunian
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Transcript

Why Smart People Get Scammed

SPEAKER_03 0:00

People fall for it not because they're unintelligent, but because the level of sophistication that scammers now have.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

I, an attorney who's young and not a senior citizen, almost got scammed.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

The number one thing we need to do is to expose it, to talk about it, to make it part of our everyday conversation.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

These scammers are using AI to mimic your grandchild's voice. It sounds just like them, but it's not.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

And they're telling seniors to stay silent while draining their life savings. Summer, how do we stop this?

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Welcome back to the Glamorous Grind. This week we're honored to welcome back San Diego District's attorney Summer Stefan. She's passionate about tackling one of the fastest growing crimes in our country: scams targeting our seniors.

Welcome And Mission: Protect Seniors

SPEAKER_03 0:57

And this is personal for so many families. These scammers are sophisticated, fast, and scary. From tech support schemes to AI-generated grandparent scams, fake investments, and fear-based government impersonation. We're breaking down exactly how they work and how you can protect the people you love. So, Summer, how do we stop this?

SPEAKER_01 1:24

You know, it's all about education. It's something we need to talk about around the dinner table. We all have someone we love who's a senior, and we need to make it a part of normal conversation, that there are scams out there, what to look for, how to spot them, how to stop them. Otherwise, what we end up with is a whole bunch of seniors that I get to see that are ashamed because they think they're the only ones that have been had. They think that this only happened to them because somehow they're not as smart as they used to be when they were younger. And we tell them all the time it's not about them, it's the fact that the scammers have gotten more and more sophisticated so that anyone can fall for it. And we've actually had people with multiple PhDs, patents that they've created, and they still fall for these scams.

Shame, Sophistication, And Education

SPEAKER_03 2:22

I was actually thinking about this as I was, you know, contemplating this episode is the shame factor. I do feel like so many seniors are ashamed and they don't want to talk about it. And it becomes this taboo subject because no one wants to think it's going to happen to them. But I think it's important to uh highlight the fact that people fall for it not because they're unintelligent, but because they can't even conceptualize the level of sophistication that scammers now have.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

That is exactly right. And I mean, we're dealing with a case right now where this very intelligent, sophisticated woman, she had done so well in her life, and she lost almost a million dollars, and she's yet to tell her own family. Um, luckily, she reported and we're there trying to fight for her, but she's ashamed to tell her own family. And that's why I say the number one thing we need to do is to expose it, to talk about it, to make it part of our everyday conversation, because this will help uh seniors and help everybody to kind of have a trigger and say, oh, this sounds like something I've I've seen before, I've heard about before, I've discussed before. I better slow down and really check whether this is real or not.

The Chase Impersonation Playbook

SPEAKER_02 3:48

I mean, I personally had a lot of experience with that, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I almost got defrauded last year because somebody called me and said that they're from Chase Bank. They're going someone is going around the banks pretending to be me to pull out money from my accounts. And they had me call in, verify, and like an idiot, I gave them the verification for what they wanted. Ultimately, um, I ended up reaching out to my banker because I was directed to go to the bank and close an account and open another one. And I had a question for her. She's like, that was not us. And then it turns out that I was being scammed, but I had to then close my business account and another account because I verified it with these people that sounded totally real and they would transfer me to different lines, and the recording sounded real. So I, an attorney who's young and not a senior citizen, almost got scammed. You talked about a lady who was scammed up to a million dollars. What is the minimal level of fraud that your office prosecutes?

Inside A Pop-Up Tech Support Scam

Elder Justice Task Force Tactics

SPEAKER_01 4:48

There is no minimal level. We find that uh small amounts are the tip of the iceberg. Many times scammers begin with small amounts to lull the person into not being careful, and then it begins to build. So they'll call back time and time again. So we take every case seriously because it is gonna be part of something bigger, because we've discovered now that this is part of a large syndicate, organized crime that mostly originates internationally. And I'll explain, but I first want to commend you for sharing that. The fact that you shared that you almost got scammed and had to do all of that is what we need to do because it opens the path for somebody to not feel ashamed, looking at you, you know, a famous attorney, bright, young. And this is how good the scammers are. We actually had a successful case exactly with the Chase Bank thing, but it was a combination of tech support and a banking impersonation. So a pop-up, this is also the number one scam. That's why it's important to talk about it. A pop-up came up on the computer of this wonderful woman uh who had saved so much money. She'd been careful. She, you know, had a regular job where she had to save little by little. The pop-up told her to call a Microsoft number because her computer has been hacked and to make sure she does not shut down her computer or she'll lose all the information. She calls the number and a very sophisticated Oscar Award-winning actor type begins this whole thing about there's some unusual activity and she need they need access to her computer. She gives them that little mouse access, and all of a sudden, of course, they see she's banking with Chase. And soon enough, she gets another call. It's from Chase Bank, pretending to be Chase, and telling her there's unusual activity, exactly as you described, and she needs to come and take the money out and not to tell anyone because they suspect internal fraud at the bank. So they are really um masters of their trade of creating a situation where you feel like you can't share the information with anyone or you could lose out. So that's exactly what she did. She pulled out money, a courier showed up from LA, picked up the money, of course, for safekeeping to never be seen again, but they got greedy. They called again saying, Oh, the money is still like leaving her bank account. So at that point, she shared that with her son who called the FBI, who then engaged our elder justice task force, the first of its kind in the nation. So we set up a roost and we're there outside her door, our team, and we nabbed the person, looked through their phones to go up the chain to the organizers, and we're able to do a pretty large case and bring accountability. But sadly, so many cases it's too late. By the time they report, which is a while, or never, the money is gone, never to be seen again.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

What should someone in San Diego County do to help your team arrest those people and catch them while it's hot?

Report Fast: ic3.gov And Police

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Times have changed. So we set up the this task force because one of my investigators did 200 search warrants. We used to tell victims it's too late. There's really nothing you can do. But after we did these search warrants, we saw that they all led to similar type syndicates originating in LA, but also going all the way internationally, leaving wires, leaving the country. So we told the FBI what our search warrants showed, and they were very, very engaged and were grateful to them. So together we formed an elder justice task force. We also have a fusion center, so we link up all these reports and we create patterns of criminal activity. So while I don't want to overpromise that we're going to be able to succeed in every case because these are very fast moving with the money leaving, it is very important to report. And we would report to local law enforcement and the FBI ic3.gov, both reports. They also protect your financial credit. By filing a report, you're able to contest if your credit looks like it was diminished because of something. So it's important to have these reports anyway for your financial stability, in addition to helping us crack these cases and bring justice to these cases.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Thank you. You reminded me that I had to put a freeze on my three credit report agency, had to create login, freeze my experience, and other ones because my data was compromised.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Exactly. And a police report helps you. If anyone ever tries to, you know, show a diminished credit rating, you can show that you filed a police report or an IC3.gov report.

Why Scammers Target Seniors

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Summer, what is the minimum age for someone to be considered a senior citizen for purposes of this protection?

National Threat And Economic Impact

Stop, Hang Up, Tell Someone

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Well, our elder justice task force takes reports for 60 and over, but you know, our laws are 65 for an actual um elder enhancement, like an additional punishment because you're going after a senior. The thing is that the same scams are operating with anybody of any age, but the scammers are so sophisticated that they understand that they're going to get more bang for the buck if they go after seniors because they have built some wealth, they have more savings, while many young people are living paycheck to paycheck. They want it a target that's rich, that's able to produce a lot of money for them. So that's the reason. It really isn't because seniors are not as smart or something like that, because these scams work on anybody. It is really to kind of remove that shame uh out of it. It really is about that they're a better target financially. And that's why they target them. Can you talk a little bit more about the task force? Did you create this task force? It was our our idea that a task force is needed because this problem is so large. I consider it one of the national public safety threats. Essentially, there are international syndicates that are ripping billions of dollars out of our system with, and it's just leaving our country and leaving the pockets of people that would allow them to live stable lives and contribute to the economy. So we have been urging a lot more focus on this area. So San Diego happens to be the first because of the work that we did, and because we got really tired of turning down victims and saying it's too late. We wanted to do something proactive. We're able to find out in the last year alone, this is just San Diego County, lost$149 million to scams, seniors. And these are only the reported scams. So we know it's a lot more than that amount. So can you imagine if that money was back in the pockets of our seniors, you know, fueling the economy, making sure that uh people don't end up homeless or not able to have their dignity of putting food on the table, not relying on their families. That's why the shame comes in. They feel like they're gonna be a burden on their families. So I think this is one of the top crimes. It a lot of people like to refer to it as just like economic, but it's much more than economic. It really is ripping the safety net, the dignity out of people that we're supposed to respect and take care of.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

People should have someone they trust. They can call a family member or friend that can help them so they don't feel ashamed. They probably can't call the task force until it's kind of too late, but to run it by, if it sounds suspicious, if your gut is telling you something may be off, if it doesn't sit right with you, like check with someone you trust instead of going through and trusting the person you don't know.

AI Voice Clones And Family Codes

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Exactly. And that's actually the theme. It's it's it's great that you mentioned that of our um prevention campaign. And, you know, I'm so glad that you have me on the show to talk about it more because we realize that this is so big that even though we've prosecuted many cases, we have active cases going now for in the value of four four and a half million dollars. We've been able to return and stop wires and other things with the help of the task force because the FBI has tentacles all over the world. We used um money from fraudsters to fund a campaign uh to educate seniors that is running now in multiple formats. And the theme in it is stop, hang up, tell someone. Those are the three steps we want people to take because they will spare so much agony. Because the frosters really create an urgency, like something has to happen now. And if you hang up, you're gonna lose your money, the world is gonna fall apart. So the key is to just stop and hang up. Because remember, you can call the original source yourself. If, for example, you think your computer, despite me telling you it's a scam, you still think, what if my computer was hacked? Hanging up won't do anything. You can take it to the geek squad or some professional tech group who's gonna look at it rather than respond to an unsolicited invitation. That's always a key. Is it something unsolicited that's coming your way? You wanna be the one that calls Chase Bank. You want to be the one, not the number they give you or responding to a call. Hang up at that point, shut down your computer, and tell someone because when you discuss it with someone, the ridiculous nature of it will become more clear. You'll start to think, yeah, that doesn't make sense because you've now slowed down enough. And then your relative, your trusted person will say, Oh no, it's a scam. Um, and then you can report it to law enforcement. So those are the steps we do want people to take.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

It's hard for some of them to recognize, though, that it is not real.

Policy Gaps And System Reforms

SPEAKER_01 16:11

We want to emphasize that really anything that has to do with you moving your money, changing the color of your money into like crypto or into gold bars, that's the latest thing, is gold bars, um, transferring accounts, anything to do with exchanging money, doing something with money is going to be a scam, especially if you're not the one who sought it out. If someone is reaching out to you to do an investment scam, a romance that pops up for you, the seniors also want love. So romance scams are like number three in the list of scams that people fall for of any age, where they feel close to this person, they feel this person understands them, this person is breaking down their loneliness, they're talking to them. And of course, when you're dealing with um social media, you can have any image you want. You can be a similarly aged person, whether that's a young child, like you know, we've discussed in human trafficking, or it's a another senior that looks like they're about your age group, they're interested in you, but all of a sudden comes the money request.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

On that note, you know, it was I was checking my emails today and I get this email from Forbes. It talks about a company called Eleven Labs, a small Polish startup that's competing against Google to become and against Amazon and OpenAI to become de facto AI voice generator. And it says that despite controversies like fraudsters impersonating loved ones' voices, the firm raised over 300 million and has over 6.6 billion valuation, making it one of the most valuable startups. So that's coming to the US, obviously, and is competing with other AI products. Have you run into any cases that where there's a voice in the grandma-grandpa scam?

Lightning Round: Red Or Green Flags

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Because it used to be where a lawyer, a pretend lawyer, calls and says, Oh, your grandchild is in trouble. They're in a, you know, a jail, they were off for spring break. We see this during spring break a lot, and um they had an accident and now they're in jail, and you know, things are gonna go really sour for them in this international country system. You have to post money for them to bail them out. Now you you will actually hear your grandchild's voice because all it needs is a couple of minutes of postings of a grandchild on Instagram or wherever, where they posted a video, they'll take that video and use the different words and put them together in a message that they need help from grandma. So we tell families now, in order to fight back against it, if they're really worried, even though it's gonna be a scam, and we need them to stop, hang up, and tell someone, but to create a family code that only your family knows. So if someone calls you needing money, they're in an emergency, they were in a crash, they need you to immediately transfer money to them, ask them what your family code is, and then you'll know because you know, AI has not advanced enough to read our mind yet. So thankfully, we this will work for a while to protect families.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

I love that idea. But with senior citizens, they may not have great memory at certain points or remember the family code.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

That would be trouble. Um you know, just like our you know, ch ever changing computer codes, you can write it on a sticky, put it in a place that they can refresh their memory with it, like in a visible place.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

And it's crazy with the rise of AI, how everything is so quickly changing. And I'm sure law enforcement has to just as quickly adapt to all of the changes. And I think you're right, there's no way to fully prevent it, but having systems in place is probably the only way to at least try to get ahead of it. And I think that the main thing is knowledge and education, like you said, and making sure that it's not a taboo subject for senior citizens. That's exactly right.

Listener Dilemma: Fake Investment Apps

SPEAKER_01 20:32

I just testified with our in-house expert Scott Barillo at a state committee that's part of the legislature advising the legislature on senior scams. And what we were saying is that America is really falling behind in terms of having systems that protect against AI, against these types of international scams. The reality is Australia and the United Kingdom have taken leaps and bounds and have actually reduced their scams by almost 30%. In America, our scams are only going up because we keep saying privacy and giving social media companies like free reign when we should be demanding a little more control. So there should be a public, private police, law enforcement. We can't do it all. We need the same systems, like um the fact that, for example, in in the UK, you cannot mimic an area code. You're not allowed to mimic a local area code when you're an international number.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

That would be great if we could have that. I get stamp calls all day long. Exactly plus 619. It even uses the first three digits of my cell phone number to make it sound like it's local.

Romance Scams And Third-Party Voices

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Exactly. So that's the we used to tell people don't answer any calls outside your area code or that are part of your caller ID. That's all gone because they can mimic that. So what we need is we'll keep doing what we're doing, but we need a whole systems change so that there is um social responsibility by the phone companies, by the providers, the social media providers, so that there's more built-in protection so that we can fight back. What we do know for a fact now with our Elder Justice Task Force connecting the dots, that pretty much over 90% of these scams are originating in foreign countries. They're originating, you know, in in India, Nigeria, in just China and other places, where they actually sadly have people with scripts in human farms, essentially, where their whole job is to call and call and call and contact and read this the script so that they can scam people. And they often have two people even working together so that it looks much more believable with a third person calling while you're on the line with the two people to reaffirm the scam. So this is very well organized. So it's going to take a national movement cooperation and pressure with um international countries, better systems to catch money launderers that are dispersing the money and moving it out of nation, and then the private industry coming together to put more controls for these pop-ups, for um spams, for you know, mimicking different numbers. We have a lot of work to do. Um, and I think our Elder Justice Task Force is showing the way we've we've had a lot of interest. We've, you know, even talked to Congress about it, to the staffers on what we need to see to do better, and to our legislature. But in the meantime, we want to continue the fight, and we want at least our community to be well educated on what the red flags are.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

All right, Summer. This is our lightning round. We're gonna give you some scam scenarios and you're gonna tell us whether it's a green or red flag, legit or illegit. First one, your bank calls you and says that your account was hacked, but they need you to go to the bank to move some money to a safe account.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Red flag. It's a scam. And if you're at all concerned about it, you yourself hang up and you call your bank, the number that you have and verify.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

I was fooled and I dialed the phone number they gave me to manager. Oh my gosh. And then I had the guy's cell phone number, the manager, and I talked to him like an idiot a couple of times.

Honoring Seniors With Time And Trust

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Everybody is gonna fall blue. That's the whole point of today's segment.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Uh but you know, the good news is, although Thanksgiving is behind us now, we're having this discussion before Christmas. So around the next Christmas holiday party with family, everyone can come up with the secret family code to avoid scams. So this was still good timing, summer for you. That's a green flag.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Great job. Yes, that will be you'll be the most famous person at your dinner table.

SPEAKER_03 25:30

Okay, scenario two. A young relative calls and says they need you to post bail on the phone, but you can't tell anyone because of the legal situation. Red flag. It's a scam. That's the famous grandma-grandpa scam. It is crazy that AI can take a voice from an Instagram video or a Facebook video that was posted by a family member inconspicuously, just very innocently posting their kid, and then they take that voice and turn it into a cry for help to get money from the grandparents. That's just insane.

Restraining Orders And One Safe Place

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Oh my god, summer. But you're all over the news and your voice is everywhere. Could district attorneys and others be getting calls from you to, hey, drop this case against someone? I mean, is that a risk? And what is government doing about protecting you know their own employees from such fraud?

SPEAKER_01 26:25

I mean, it happens. We're always looking for and we're shutting down fake websites that try to pretend it's me.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

Um, so if you see something that you don't like that I did, give me the benefit of the doubt that it's a fake account and you know, call us and we'll make sure we take it down.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

All right. Another scenario. All right, the IRS sends a letter, not a call or text or email. Is that a green or red flag?

SPEAKER_01 26:51

That that's that could be a scam or could be not a scam. But again, don't respond to the email or anything that they give you in the letter. Rather, you yourself call the posted legitimate IRS number or call your tax person to verify.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

I'll tell you what my father does and tell me if it's a red flag or a green flag. He now sends all calls to directly to voicemail and doesn't pick up his phone all day unless it's me calling him. And we have a hard time reaching him. Although he's at home, he just is like, I'm not gonna answer them because he's scared to get scammed.

Multilingual Help And Access

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Well, he should put all the numbers of the people he does want to talk to, like his daughter, in a caller ID. And that way he cannot answer any calls that aren't part of his caller ID system that's already identified. None of these prevention um strategies are foolproof, but coming together and especially exposing it and discussing it, explaining that the way the scams work, um, there's multiple forms, but the tech support scam is the number one. Someone's gonna help you with your computer and it's Microsoft and call this number and they'll they'll help you. That's a scam. Um, the romance scam, but you know, I'm overseas, I'm a doctor saving lives, I'm in the military, but you need to send me money because they froze my accounts in this country I'm in. Again, a scam. Uh grandma, grandpa, I'm in jail, that's a scam. Uh, the government, you overpaid something or underpaid, and we're coming after you. Government doesn't contact people that way. That's a scam. So almost, you know, the banking scam, the impersonation scams, the toll scam. You but I think that they're gonna keep creating different scams. So, what I tell people is the key is just did I did this come unsolicited to me? I wasn't, I'm not the one who called my bank and now my bank is calling me back. I'm not the one who called my doctor, now the doctor is calling me back. It's unsolicited. That is a red flag that it's a scam.

Final Takeaways And Glam Tip

SPEAKER_03 29:08

Okay, now for the listener-question portion of our show. Let's get gritty. We had people write in about situations relating to online scams in particular, and we had a viewer ask this my dad has been chatting with someone he met through a friendly investment group on social media. They convinced him to download an app that shows huge returns, and he was able to withdraw a small amount at first, which made it seem legit. But now they're telling him he needs to invest more to unlock a bigger payout. It feels off, but he trusts them. How do I talk to him without making him defensive?

Calls To Action And Closing

SPEAKER_01 29:52

That is a great question, one that we see a lot of people suffer with. A really known trick is to start small, and just like I said, that's why we don't take any case as being small, a small investment, so it feels harmless. Like, what's the harm? I'll try this, and then it's they suck you in and it starts to increase into bigger and bigger amounts. The reality is that any social media group, investment group is gonna be a scam. That is the reality. So unfortunately, sometimes people don't listen to their own family members. You have to find an outside voice, whether it's somebody who is a real investment banker, to have that conversation with your father, to have that different voice. The other day we had this on a similar note, uh, an elderly person who was being befriended and romanced by somebody who kept taking more and more and more money. And the family tried and tried, but she wouldn't uh accept that this is a scam. She really thought this was the love of her life. So they called aging and independence services, the county's services, because it doesn't have to be a crime, it just has to be a concern, a welfare concern. And they were able to kind of do a welfare check and in a third voice be able to talk to this woman about you know, how does she know this person is real? What has she done to verify, to give her tips? And it's it kind of at least started her thinking about it. So this is what I suggest to families is you keep talking, but bring in another voice if you can.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

Thank you for mentioning that. I had some client, I had a client in the past that I talked about. She was past her 60s and was getting divorced and was receiving a lot of money and got into a situation where someone that I figured was fake from Nigeria was romancing her and would never show up wherever he promised he would be for her. And her family was equally concerned and was thinking about getting conservatorship over her because she was making bad financial decisions. But that wasn't successful because she was normal and didn't need conservatorship in any other sense, except for she believed this person. It's not adult protective service, as you would call. You said it's called aging and what?

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Aging? Aging and independent services, independence services. So it's part of the county and it they take more generalized issues. They don't have to be criminal, but something that shows concern for the health and finances, the well-being of the person in general. So they're a lot more um flexible in terms of how they respond. For example, you could have a neighbor that sees that somebody's coming in the house every day and they're taking something out, you know, and it's not like they don't know if it's a crime or it's by permission. But this agency, the county agent, which by the way is embedded within our task force because we have to use different strategies, they will do a welfare check and and say, hey, is everything okay? You know, people are concerned that things are leaving your house. Is it with your permission? So they have a lot more flexibility. But don't give up, I would say. Uh keep presenting different scenarios. Show that this is a scam by uncovering. You know, I'm hoping for like a really good documentary that people can show their loved one that shows all of these scenarios that um that so that because when you watch television or you watch a show, somehow it takes on the feeling of being more real. So we need to do more in the art world, in talking to convince people that this is actually happening and that anyone can fall for it.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

And I think it's important to highlight one thing we haven't really touched on enough, I feel like in this entire conversation is like the human aspect of it. Is that these people, these scammers, a lot of times they are getting emotionally close to elderly people who are really a vulnerable, a vulnerable population because they are probably lonely and they become connected to this person. And I feel like it's very easy to fall into a place where they would trust the scammer more than their own family. And that's a very sensitive topic, I feel like, to even touch on. Uh, but it's true, unfortunately. And it it's in it could be embarrassing to the people who fall for this, but I think it's important to really understand that those people are creating those relationships. And I feel like that's so closely interwined with why they have such a strong hold.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

I think it's a one-sided relationship because you mentioned earlier a farm of people that are reading scripts and it's their job to do that all day long. So you would think like, who would ever knowingly do that to another human being, especially an older person, to take away their life savings and destroy them emotionally and weaken them because it really does that to you if you know you're scammed and you trusted someone. But those people know what they're doing, the ones that are in those farms that are getting scripts, they know they're defrauding people?

SPEAKER_01 35:28

They do know they're defrauding, but they don't really have a way out of it, a lot of them. But it is the people who are pulling the strings, the criminal organization. That's why I say it needs a whole national strategy because we need to be able to put pressure on law enforcement in and those nations, the governments that are doing that, to shut down those operations, those um scam operations. If you know, I don't know if you saw the the movie Beekeeper. It's one of the best movies to show this phenomena of what they do and how they do it. And sadly, it's actually very much real. Maybe not the beekeeper part where he was able to, you know, take care of business, but the the part of how these scams are run. But I think to your point, maybe it's true that we didn't mention this, and we should mention the the reality of that, you know, honoring um our seniors means time. Time is precious, but spending time and having those conversations and showing uh the senior in your life that they're valuable, that they're loved, that their opinion matters, that could also be a safeguard against scammers who are preying on their emotions, preying on their need for that interaction. So I think that's an excellent point.

SPEAKER_02 37:00

You spoke about assembly bill, I think 561 last time in our show, and it recently passed and was signed into law in October.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:09

And procedurally, it's to speed up the filing of civil or straining orders for the elderly. They can now do it online without having to wait in court, and they can appear virtually and have someone else appear virtually so that makes it easier for them. How would this bill and the enactments, procedural enactments, help someone in a situation where they're a victim of financial fraud?

SPEAKER_01 37:35

If it's a known offender, so it's not gonna help you if it's an international syndicate that is reaching out to you, but sometimes sadly, people are defrauded or abused uh economically or physically by someone they know, by a family member. Um sadly, we have many cases with a grandson who has a methamphetamine addiction who preys on a grandparent who's gonna, you know, keeps taking, stealing from them, breaking into their house, taking their things, um, you know, taking their credit card and using it. So a restraining order is very helpful there. And it's scary to go to court and do those things. Um we have opened family justice centers, you're well aware, because you you you all provide uh volunteer services there. We have one in San Marcos in the North County, one safe place. We now just open one in the South Bay, one safe place south. And that's a place not just for children and adults who are being abused, but for seniors with a lot of expertise there. So a senior can go there, get supportive services, get a volunteer lawyer to help them fill out the restraining order. And there's a remote courtroom inside the family justice center, our family justice center, where they can remote into the court with a lawyer sitting next to them where they don't have to go to court and do it. So this is an exciting new innovation and development.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Well, thank you. And I think it's important to mention that you since our last episode, you opened up the South Bay OneSafe place. Um, being in South Bay, there are a lot of immigrants, you know, and immigrants are often taken advantage of, especially when they don't speak English, and they'll get a text or a phone call and they get scared and they may give away their money or access to their accounts. Would financial fraud on senior citizens, victims of fraud, could they go to OneSafe Place to get assistance there to report it to FBI and to get help from the agencies you previously mentioned that are in San Diego County?

SPEAKER_01 39:41

Absolutely. But both of our OneSafe places have trained people in scams and connections where they can just stay right there and the team will respond to them in this beautiful safe space that they're in with the supportive services, and they'll help them report. It, fill out the forms. If language is an issue, we have uh translation machines, you know, uh that are able to translate. We also have people who speak Spanish and other languages, they're present, but we also use technology to properly translate in any language.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

That's so important for older people and immigrant communities, because a lot of them are not good with technology. Older people are not good with cell phones and texting and setting their passwords and remembering those. So going to one safe place, whether it's in South Bay or North County, would be very helpful to get things reported and potentially get some prosecution out of it. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 40:41

Sent over um referrals of individuals who didn't speak English and they were very helpful. And we're like, we can we can use a translator, and it was really great. It's very, very wonderful work that you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

All right, well, Summer, it is an honor to have you with us. Thank you so much for making time to join the glamorous grind and would love to have you back again to hear the additional updates and changes that you make in our community.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

It's great to be with both of you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 41:09

The one thing that I learned today, and I'm gonna take home to like my family, is like if you get a call and you did not call first, it's unsolicited. What is it? Hang up, hang up, stop, hang up, tell someone. Stop, hang up, tell someone. Thank you so much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

Great to be with you.

SPEAKER_03 41:27

This week's glam tip is about protecting your digital glam by securing your accounts. Always use different passwords that you update frequently, and make sure older family members have privacy settings locked down as well. And glam is also about community.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

Pick a trusted contact for the seniors in your life, someone they can call any time they feel uncertain. That one can prevent a life-changing scam. And remember what Summer said get the family secret code to protect yourself and your family.

SPEAKER_03 42:03

Summer, thank you for empowering our community with this knowledge and for fighting to keep our seniors safe.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

If you're listening, take two minutes today and talk to someone in your family about scams. It could save them thousands of dollars or their dependence and protect them from feeling ashamed.

SPEAKER_03 42:23

Hit that subscribe button and make sure to follow us. And if you've got a question for Let's Get Gritty, leave it in the comments or send it to podcast at antoniamoranda.com. Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

We'll see you next time on the glamorous grind.