AARP, Amazon, Google, and Walmart have launched the National Elder Fraud Coordination Center (NEFCC), a nonprofit that will bring together law enforcement, industry, government, and academia to strengthen efforts against fraud targeting older adults. The center aims to help law enforcement combat criminal organizations that defraud older adults out of billions of dollars every year by tracking and assessing concerning patterns of alleged criminal fraud behavior. According to the US Federal Trade Commission, older Americans may have lost as much as $61.5 billion to fraud in 2023 alone.

NEFCC is the first-ever national effort to bring together resources from the private and public sectors to aid law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting criminal fraud rings targeting this population. NEFCC will leverage private sector data to help connect older-adult fraud cases across the US, identifying patterns and linking smaller, individual cases together to build integrated investigations that target large-scale fraud operations.

With NEFCC's assistance, state and federal law enforcement agencies will be able to more efficiently identify and dismantle the most destructive criminal fraud enterprises, seize stolen assets, and return them to the victims.

"While fraud affects people of all ages, older adults often face the greatest financial losses, putting their retirement security and well-being at risk," said Kathy Stokes, director of Fraud Prevention Programs, AARP Fraud Watch Network. NEFCC began its work in March housed within the National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance, a nonprofit that works with industry and law enforcement to identify and prevent cyber threats.

To learn more visit www.fightelderfraud.org.