Man scammed 49 ‘elderly victims’ to get more than US$800,000 of their savings, US feds say

Anderson, in addition to his accomplices, “regularly” obtained tens of thousands of dollars from the “elderly victims” who withdrew funds from their savings accounts, feds said. Anderson told them that the money would be returned later, according to the release. — AFP

A man pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges in connection to a large, multi-state “elder fraud scam” that involved impersonating a variety of people, according to federal officials.

For an eight-month period in 2020, Michael Odell Anderson, a 64-year-old from Crystal Beach, Florida, and Dunn Loring, Virginia, reportedly called people asking for thousands of dollars to help pay for an incarcerated relative’s – often a grandchild’s – fake legal expenses, according to a Nov 7 news release from the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.