How to Get a Scammer in Trouble: A Real Guide to Reporting and Escalation

When a scammer has targeted your elderly parent — whether they stole money, stole personal information, or nearly got away with it — the instinct is to want consequences. You want the person responsible to face some kind of accountability.

The good news: reporting scams targeting seniors is not futile. Law enforcement does arrest elder fraud perpetrators. The FTC and FBI do build cases from complaint data. And even when a single report does not lead to an arrest, it contributes to investigations that eventually do.

The realistic news: not every report results in a prosecution, and not every dollar lost is recovered. Understanding what each agency can and cannot do will help you direct your energy where it will have the most impact.

This is a practical guide to getting a scammer into the system — and what that system can actually do.

Before You Report: Gather the Evidence

The strength of a complaint depends on the information you can provide. Before filing anything, collect:

• Phone numbers used by the scammer (check your parent's call log)
• Email addresses from any correspondence (including headers if possible — these show routing information)
• Mailing addresses if checks or gift cards were mailed anywhere
• Website URLs of any fraudulent sites
• Screenshots of text messages, social media profiles, or online chats
• Bank statements showing the transfers
• Gift card numbers and PINs (these can sometimes be traced)
• Names or aliases the scammer used
• Dates, times, and duration of all contacts
• The exact amount lost and how it was paid

The more specific you can be, the more useful the report. "Someone called claiming to be from the IRS" is far less actionable than "a man named Agent Williams called from 202-555-0143 on February 14th at 2:15 PM, demanded $3,200 in Google Play cards, and gave instructions to scratch the back of the cards and read the numbers aloud."

The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) — Primary Reporting for Fraud

Website: ic3.gov Who handles it: FBI and the IC3's complaint referral system What it can do: The IC3 is the central hub for internet crime complaints in the United States. Reports are analyzed for patterns, aggregated with other complaints against the same actors, and referred to federal, state, and local law enforcement for investigation. High-volume patterns against the same number, organization, or payment method can trigger federal investigations.

File here if: The scam involved the internet (email, websites, social media), wire transfers, or phone fraud with any online component. This covers the vast majority of elder scams.

When you submit, you receive a complaint reference number. Save it. You may be contacted by an agent if your complaint is part of a larger investigation.

For elder fraud specifically, the FBI operates the National Elder Fraud Hotline in partnership with the Department of Justice:

Phone: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311)

This hotline connects you with a case manager — not just a recording — who can help you understand your options and navigate reporting. They handle cases involving victims 60 and older. Call here if the loss is significant or if you believe your parent is still in contact with the scammer.

The FTC Fraud Report — Consumer-Level Reporting

Website: reportfraud.ftc.gov Who handles it: The Federal Trade Commission What it can do: The FTC is a regulatory and law enforcement agency that focuses on patterns of consumer fraud. When many people report the same phone number, company, or scam type, the FTC can bring civil enforcement actions, issue injunctions, and freeze assets. The FTC has taken down major elder fraud operations using complaint data.

Importantly, when you file at reportfraud.ftc.gov, your complaint goes into a national database that is shared with more than 2,800 law enforcement agencies across the country. Local prosecutors can pull complaint data for their jurisdiction, which can support local prosecutions even when federal involvement is not warranted.

The FTC also runs identitytheft.gov — the official recovery portal for identity theft. If the scam involved your parent's personal information being stolen, file there as well for a personalized recovery plan and legally useful Identity Theft Report document.

Your State Attorney General — Often the Most Responsive for Local Scams

Find yours: naag.org/find-my-ag Who handles it: The state attorney general's consumer protection division What it can do: State AGs can investigate and prosecute violations of state consumer protection laws, which often carry criminal penalties. They can also pursue injunctions against businesses operating fraudulently and, in some cases, seek restitution for victims.

State attorneys general have successfully prosecuted local contractor scams, local "grandparent scammers," and operations that targeted seniors within their state. They are often more responsive to individual constituent complaints than federal agencies, especially when the scammer operated locally.

File here for: Contractor fraud, door-to-door scams, local business fraud, or any scam involving an identifiable person or business within your state.

Your Local Police Department

Many people skip local police because they assume elder fraud is a federal issue. This is a mistake for scams with local components.

If the scammer came to your parent's home (contractor fraud, lottery prize pickup fraud), operated a local business, or can be identified as a local resident, a local police report is worth filing. It:

• Creates an official record that may be required for insurance claims
• Contributes to local crime statistics that can trigger increased enforcement
• Can be the basis for an arrest warrant if the detective follows up

When you file, ask that the case be referred to the department's financial crimes or elder abuse unit if one exists. Many metro areas have dedicated units.

Be realistic: Local police are often understaffed and may not actively investigate without a local lead. But a filed report costs nothing and stays in the system.

Adult Protective Services — If Your Parent Is Still Being Victimized

Find your state's APS: eldercare.acl.gov or call 1-800-677-1116

If you believe your parent is currently in contact with a scammer — especially if they are in a romantic relationship with someone online or are still sending money — Adult Protective Services can get involved. APS can conduct in-person welfare checks, connect your parent with social workers and financial counseling, and coordinate with law enforcement.

APS is particularly important in situations where the victim is not accepting help from family. A third-party professional arriving at the home can sometimes achieve what family intervention has failed to do.

APS reports are confidential — you can file without your parent knowing you did.

How to Report Gift Card Fraud to the Issuer

If your parent bought gift cards at a scammer's instruction, contact the issuer immediately. Most major gift card companies have dedicated fraud lines:

• Google Play: support.google.com/googleplay — select "Contact Us" and look for gift card fraud
• Apple: 1-800-275-2273
• Amazon: 1-888-280-4331
• Steam: Through the Help Center at help.steampowered.com

The success rate for recovering gift card funds is low once the codes have been used, but if the codes have not yet been redeemed, the issuer may be able to cancel them. Even if they have been used, filing a fraud report with the issuer creates a record that can support criminal investigations. Gift card companies increasingly cooperate with law enforcement.

How to Report the Scammer's Phone Number

File at the FCC: consumercomplaints.fcc.gov

The FCC regulates telephone companies and can take action against carriers whose systems are being used for fraudulent robocall campaigns. The STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication framework was created specifically to reduce spoofed calls, and FCC enforcement is ongoing.

You can also submit scammer phone numbers to:

• Nomorobo: nomorobo.com/report — adds numbers to their blocking database
• YouMail: youmail.com/home/spam-and-scam-report — community-driven blocking database

These are not law enforcement, but every number added to these databases protects other seniors from the same caller.

What to Expect After You Report

Set realistic expectations. Most scam reports do not result in a phone call back from an investigator. Federal agencies are processing millions of complaints. Your report is valuable not because it alone will trigger an investigation, but because it is a data point in a pattern.

Here is what actually happens with complaint data:

Agencies like the FTC and IC3 use software to cluster complaints by phone number, email domain, payment recipient, and scam type. When a sufficient pattern emerges, it creates a target for investigation. A single well-documented complaint about a large loss is more likely to receive attention than multiple thin reports.

The cases that do get prosecuted often affect hundreds or thousands of victims. The scammer who stole from your parent may have stolen from 400 other seniors using the same script from the same call center. Your complaint is part of the aggregate that makes that case.

What can you actually do to maximize impact?

• File with multiple agencies. IC3, FTC, state AG, and local police are all separate databases. File with all of them.
• Include as much detail as possible. Names, numbers, methods, dates, amounts.
• Follow up with your state AG. Unlike federal agencies, state AG offices sometimes respond to constituent inquiries. A follow-up call or email asking about the status of your complaint can sometimes move things.
• Contact your congressional representative's office. If the loss is large and federal agencies have been unresponsive, your representative's constituent services office can sometimes facilitate contact with the relevant federal agency.

Protecting Other Seniors While You Wait

One action with immediate impact: warn the community. Scam alert platforms aggregate real reports from real victims and reach people who may currently be in contact with the same scammer.

• AARP Fraud Watch Network: aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork — community fraud alerts and a fraud helpline at 1-877-908-3360
• Your local NextDoor community: A post warning about a specific phone number or contractor who showed up uninvited reaches neighbors in real time
• Your local senior center or faith community: In-person communities are highly effective at spreading scam awareness to the demographics most at risk

Reporting alone may feel inadequate when your parent has lost money. But it is one of the few genuinely useful actions available, and done systematically across multiple agencies, it contributes to real consequences for the people running these operations.

If you want a complete guide to protecting your parent before the next contact attempt — including scripts for difficult conversations, technical controls to block scam calls, and financial monitoring tools — the Elder Scam Shield Guide covers all of it in one place. See what's inside Elder Scam Shield.