Technology has simplified life, but it has also created new vulnerabilities. Margaret, an 82-year-old Ohio native, believed she was assisting her son when she received a call from someone claiming to be a “tech support” representative. The scammer, posing as a Microsoft employee, deceived her into granting remote access to her computer. Within hours, her bank account was emptied, and her identity stolen.
Cases like Margaret’s are widespread. Older adults in the U.S. are frequent targets, not just due to their age but because they struggle to keep up with rapidly evolving technology. While younger individuals navigate the internet with innate ease, many seniors find themselves repulsed by its complexity, making them susceptible to fraud. Scammers exploit this gap to their advantage. Beyond a lack of technological familiarity, trust plays a significant role. Many seniors grew up in a time when business was conducted face-to-face, where a handshake signified a binding agreement, and deception was not masked behind sophisticated online scams. Now, they are thrust into a digital leviathan where manipulation has become a structured business model.
The consequences are grave: identity theft, drained savings, and increasing social isolation. According to the National Credit Union Administration, elder financial exploitation causes annual losses of $28.3 billion. The 2024 U.S. Treasury report, “National Money Laundering Risk Assessment” has named this type of exploitation as a growing channel for money laundering, with more than $3 billion in related losses annually.
Cybercriminals work in organized networks, many of them based in foreign call centers, especially in India and, in some instances, Pakistan. They pose as Microsoft or Apple representatives, creating security issues and getting victims to open up their remote access. Others take it further, AI voices mimic distressed relatives asking for emergency funds. The phishing emails, fake bank alerts, and investment scams add more complexity to the situation.
While the U.S. has taken measures to combat these crimes, the same cannot be said for some of the nations where these operations originate. India, where some of the biggest scam call centers are located, and in a few cases Pakistan, needs to take stricter measures. Police raids every now and then are not enough. Weak enforcement, lenient penalties, and outdated laws provide fertile ground for these operations. Corruption and bureaucratic inefficiencies further delay progress, and jurisdictional loopholes are exploited by scammers to avoid prosecution.
This issue extends beyond the financial loss, it damages global trust: International investors lose confidence; foreign businesses hesitate; and, in general, a favorable environment for investment dissipates. If the affected countries do not take appropriate measures now, they will be causing irreparable financial as well as reputational harm. Cybercrime hegemony in such regions is anathema to progress and stability.
Governments need to make more stringent legislation and depute specialized law enforcement units tasked with the pursuit and dismantling of fraud networks locally. Cooperation with agencies in the U.S. and abroad must increase, ensuring extradition treaties prevent cybercrime from escaping justice.
However, enforcement alone is not enough. Public education and awareness among the youth in developing countries are crucial as well. Many young people, struggling with unemployment, end up working in fraudulent call centers, enticed by the promise of easy money. Most of them have no idea about the legal consequences or how this could damage their future careers and lives in the long run. Raising awareness can help deter them from falling into this trap, but governments must also step up by creating legitimate job opportunities, especially in the technology sector, to channel their potential in the right direction.”
Cybercrime is not something that can be eliminated forever but strict laws, decisive enforcement, international cooperation, and a shift in perception can make it not worth the hassle. If developing nations do not act now, they are not just enabling crime, they are jeopardizing their economic future and stifling the productive, innovative mindset of their youth, which would be an even greater and more lasting loss for the country.
The question remains: will these nations take meaningful action, or will they allow cybercrime to dictate the future? The clock is ticking.
By. Umair Naeem Bajwa
(The writer is an economist, currently serving as a White-Collar / Financial Crimes Investigator with Federal Government.)
