OKLAHOMA CITY – Suspected incidents of fraud – such as the case of a Carter County woman who defrauded a victim of more than $1 million – can now be reported via an online form.
A multitude of confidence schemes prey on senior citizens in scenarios that range from fake lotteries to tech support scams, and correspondence from individuals posing as a grandchild, a government official or an interested romantic partner.
The senior fraud complaint form is accessible on the state Attorney General’s website at oag.ok.gov by clicking on the “Complaints & Tiplines” tab at the top of the page.
“Far too often” older Oklahomans “are targeted by unscrupulous actors,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond said. “These cases are particularly egregious and a form of senior abuse.”
In one such case, Amber Nichole Pickelsimer, 45, was sentenced recently to three years and five months in federal prison and was ordered to pay restitution of $1,050,000 to a retired acquaintance she scammed.
The Healdton woman was directed to self-report to a designated U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility on June 13 to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.
Pickelsimer admitted defrauding a victim of their retirement savings through a blackmail scheme that extended for 19 months, between February 2019 and Aug. 12, 2020.
According to investigators, Pickelsimer created fake Facebook accounts, then used them to extort money from the victim. Pickelsimer initiated contact with the victim through one of the fake accounts, falsely claimed to possess damaging material about a family member, and threatened to release the damaging material unless the victim delivered large quantities of money to a drop site. Soon after, Pickelsimer created an additional fake Facebook account and multiple false personas to send messages to threaten the victim into making additional payments.
A report by the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center indicates financial scams reported by individuals over age 60 reached $3.4 billion last year, an increase of nearly 11% over 2022.