Elder fraud cost Allegheny County residents $8M last year, officials say

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. on Thursday used a video’s release as a springboard to warn residents about elder fraud, which scammed more than 12,000 Allegheny County residents out of nearly $8 million last year.

Zappala said his office has prevented an estimated $35 million in elder fraud since launching a senior justice team seven years ago. On Thursday morning, he screened a short warning video at Bedford Hope Center, a Hill District site that provides resources for Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) residents.

”Unfortunately criminals keep evolving,” Zappala said. “It’s easy to respond to crime. It’s harder to go and prevent it.”

“Bottom line,” added Caster D. Binion, the housing authority’s executive director, “you can’t get anything for free. Any time you hear you’re getting something for free, you’re getting scammed.”

Experts say the Pittsburgh area is particularly at risk for elder fraud and related scams because of the size of its senior-citizen population.

More than 1 in every 5 Allegheny County residents is 65 or older, census data shows. The area’s median age is nearly 43, five years above the national average.

And senior citizens’ numbers are growing. From 2020 to 2022, the population of Pittsburghers aged 65 to 84 went up five times faster than residents in their 20s.

“Scammers look at 412 and they see it as an opportunity,” said Dick Skrinjar, a former PennDOT spokesman who joined Zappala’s team in 2015. “The number one question we get is always, ‘Why here? Why me?’ Simply, thieves don’t fish where they can’t get a buck.”

The DA’s office message to vulnerable, older residents is simple, said Cyndie Carioli, a senior justice advocate in the DA’s office.

“Do not click on any links, do not trust your caller ID,” Carioli said. “It’s better to be suspicious and safe than sorry and scammed.”

Brenda Toley has taken the warnings to heart.

“When a strange number calls, I answer and say, ‘What do you want?!’ ” laughed Toley, 67, of the Hill District. “I always get scam calls. But I’ll say, ‘I’m gonna report you to the Attorney General!’ Then, they hang up.”

Toley, a retired certified nursing assistant recently elected president of Bedford Dwellings Tenant Council, appeared in the video screened Thursday. She said she spreads the word around the community on how to avoid scams.

“We’re diligent, we pay attention,” she said, referring to older Pittsburgh residents. “And I tell my friends: ‘Don’t answer that phone!’ ”