As the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller of Collier County, one aspect of my responsibilities is to help ensure the safety of public documents and public records. Certain precautionary measures have been developed to help combat the use of various scamming methods over the past years, including our Risk Alert Notification Program. This program is completely free and helps you monitor your records to minimize the risk of fraud. We encourage everyone to enroll in this program. We also recommend registering for alerts for elderly parents so that you act as an added notification.
Our office manages the Risk Alert Notification Program, providing users email and text notifications if the records listed during the registration have been accessed. Through this, the users can easily research suspicious activities, making it easier for them to take action and reduce damages.
According to the 2022 Elder Fraud Report of the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a total of 88,262 victims over the age of 60 filed a fraud complaint in 2022 with an estimated total loss of $3.1 Billion and an average dollar loss of $35,101. These total losses were an 84% increase compared to 2021. Florida ranked second with the most over 60 victims in the country, with 8,480 complainants, while California had the highest number with 11,517 victims. With these numbers, elderly fraud is clearly a growing problem that requires a solution.
Scammers typically find older people as more attractive victims than those in the lower age group because of their more significant financial savings, properties, and good credit. In addition, the elderly are prone to being victims of fraud due to their trustingnature. Some of the most common types of fraud or scamming methods affecting people over the age of 60 include:
- Call center or tech support scams
- Government impersonation
- Investments
- Lottery or sweepstakes
- Romance scams
- Extortion
To register, visit collierclerk.com/risk-alert-enrollment and enter a valid email address to receive an email from the “Collier Clerk of Courts: Risk Alert” account that will include a link where you can complete the registration. You will be asked to list the names of people or businesses and the types of official records you would want to be monitored. Once done with the registration, you will receive an email notification every time a new document is recorded that matches your selected criteria.