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COLLIER COUNTY, Florida (WBBH) -- A caregiver assisting an older Collier County resident is facing charges, accused of stealing the senior’s bank and credit card information.
The Collier County Sheriff's Office says the victim found 32-year-old Guemsika Jeanlys through a popular app designed to connect seniors with caretakers. Jeanlys is accused of gaining access to sensitive documents and eventually changing account details to take control of the victim’s finances and pay for Amazon purchases and car insurance fees.
According to Dr. Tom Felke, a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University and executive director of the Shady Rest Institute on Positive Aging, these types of scams are becoming increasingly common.
“About 21% of adults aged 65 and older live alone,” Felke said. “Unfortunately, sometimes these are individuals who are not the most technologically savvy, and so it puts them at a real detriment to have scams be perpetrated upon them."
The victim, an 82-year-old woman recovering from surgery, became suspicious when her bank statements stopped arriving in the mail. That’s when she discovered her accounts had been compromised.
Felke emphasized that scammers often exploit emotional vulnerabilities, using tactics like impersonating a family member in distress or creating urgent scenarios to pressure seniors into giving money or information.
“When you're playing on the emotional heartstrings of these individuals who are socially isolated, they're willing to do whatever they can to assist their family members,” Felke said. “It's just really sad that we have individuals out there that would perpetrate these types of scams on an older adult population.”
To combat the growing trend of elder fraud, FGCU’s Shady Rest Institute is working to educate seniors on recognizing scams.
“We have some faculty members that are actually working in the area of cybersecurity and education and training for older adults to help them realize when these types of things are being perpetrated, so that they can be a little bit more educationally aware,” Felke said.
Local organizations, such as the Elder Care Helpline and the Area Agency on Aging of Southwest Florida, also provide resources to protect and assist seniors.
