They’re NOT your Friends

By Carly B. Dykes

A call from your bank comes in like any other. The voice on the other end of the line explains there’s been suspicious activity on your account, and you need to act fast. Before you know it, you’re at an ATM withdrawing cash from your life savings, or feeding money into a cryptocurrency kiosk at a local convenience store. 

This scenario is playing out across Washington state daily. With the development of artificial intelligence, scammers are getting sneakier – and bolder.

Snohomish County hasn’t escaped the nationwide scam factory. Local voices are raising the alarm about a surge in financial scams targeting senior citizens.

Detective Julie Govantes and Assistant Chief Josh McClure from the Edmonds Police Department have seen the scams evolve firsthand. What used to appear as a suspicious email from an unknown sender has now become an elaborate multistep operation designed to earn a victim’s trust before taking advantage of them. 

“The stories vary. Whether it is someone compromising your bank account or they’re trying to catch an internal employee stealing from the bank,” Govantes said. “I’ve heard a lot of different stories of what the scammers provide the victim, so it’s all over the place. Ultimately, the victim believes they are helping their bank or the business solve a problem.”

A common scenario? A scammer will tell their victim to go to their bank, withdraw funds for safekeeping, and deposit them into another account or to a different bank, Govantes said. Scammers may also ask their target to buy gift cards and
provide codes for them. The dollar amount lost from these scams can range anywhere from $1,000 to $100,000, depending on how much information the scammer knows about the victim. In some cases, Govantes has been able to stop the scams from continuing, even getting the victims their money back.

“It’s not that we’re just taking the reports; we’ve been able, with limited detective staffing, to still help some of these victims stop their loss,” McClure said.

While phone and email scams have historically been the most common entry point, cryptocurrency kiosks – ATM-like machines found in convenience stores, supermarkets, and gas stations – are the latest tool scammers use to steal money quickly, leaving little trace of their work.

AARP’s Associate State Director Christina Clem has worked on fraud prevention for over two decades. She said crypto kiosks have become a priority concern. “Once money is deposited into the crypto kiosk, it is virtually unretrievable. We’ve had instances like the Centralia Police Department getting a call that a scam was in progress. There was a woman who put the last of her money into the kiosk, seized the money from the kiosk, and then had to give it back to the crypto company.”

In another case, Clem said a woman in Spokane
died by suicide after losing her money to a scam. 
“You’re hitting a population that has had time to save money, but they don’t have any time to recoup money. It’s not like they can go back to work and earn more money.”

Startling numbers

According to a 2025 FBI report, Americans filed nearly 13,500 complaints nationwide involving crypto kiosks, reporting $389 million in stolen funds – 76% of those losses were targeted at adults 60 and older. Most fraud causes are vastly underreported, meaning the true dollar amount is likely far higher, Clem said. 

AARP has pushed for state legislation to regulate or ban crypto kiosks with support from the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions and the Attorney General’s office. Despite their efforts, the bill failed to make it out of committee this session. Several cities in Washington, including Spokane, Spokane Valley, and Kennewick, have enacted local bans, while nationally, Tennessee, Indiana, and Minnesota have enacted statewide bans. Clem said AARP plans to bring the proposed ban to the state legislature again in 2027, this time seeking a full ban.

AARP also wants to run legislation at the state level to impose common-sense restrictions to prevent fraud, such as a daily transaction limit. “If someone is still going to fall victim to a scam, at least they’re not losing $18,000 in a matter of 30 minutes,” Clem said. “There is no cap on the transaction fee. It could be a 20% transaction fee that is charged, and they aren’t required to have any kind of paper receipt for a trail for law enforcement to follow.”

While these scams tend to target older residents, Clem said scammers don’t discriminate by age. Young adults must also stay vigilant when clicking links and answering calls from unfamiliar phone numbers. “Where we’re at right now is that scammers are really good at championing new technology, and regulators are often playing catch-up.” 

Education is key

At the Mill Creek Senior Center, Member Services Director Brie Allen has seen the impact of these scams in her own community. She’s also seen the difference education can make. “Our seniors have reported receiving at least four to five scam calls a week through the phone,” Allen said. “With the advancement of education, they’ve been able to reduce the amount of scams that actually happen significantly. Older adults are definitely a lot more cautious when it comes to phone calls.”

Opportunities for scam awareness and education can be found throughout Snohomish County. AARP hosts Fraud Watch Friday, a virtual educational webinar held on the third Friday of each month. A Fraud Watch Network toll-free number staffed by trained volunteers is available Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST.

Aside from educating yourself, Mukilteo Police Department’s Crime Prevention Officer Nathan Fabia says one of the most important steps in protecting yourself and your community from these scams is to report them to law enforcement. “They’ll prey on the emotions and then also create urgency; we want to remind people that you can hang up, and if you think something’s fishy, call 911 right away. Take care of grandparents or parents who are of the older generation, and be sure to look out for your loved ones, look out for your friends and family.”

One of the most consistent obstacles in addressing these scams is the shame that keeps victims from coming forward. Mill Creek Police Department Detective Sgt. Rod Fleming said that, in some cases, law enforcement is notified of these scams by Adult Protective Services. But the victims often neglect to report it to law enforcement. Or even tell loved ones.

“There’s a lot of embarrassment when it comes to fraud, because if you’ve been victimized, then, for lack of a better term, someone’s gotten the better of you,” Fabia said. “We really want to encourage people to trust their gut, and if they think they’ve been victimized or think something’s a scam, we want them to call right away.”

McClure said shame is something he sees in most people who fall victim to these scams. But he said sharing stories, even if the victim prefers to frame it as something that happened to a friend, is the best way to prevent more people from falling into the same trap.

“It is not a reflection on you, on your intelligence, on your savviness,” added Clem. “These people are professionals, and they know what they do.”