AARP, Amazon, Google, and Walmart Support Launch of New Initiative to Combat Elder Fraud

First-Ever National Elder Fraud Coordination Center Brings Together Private and Public Sectors to Seek Justice for Victims

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, AARP, Amazon, Google, and Walmart announced the launch of the National Elder Fraud Coordination Center (NEFCC), a nonprofit that will bring together law enforcement, industry, government, and academia to strengthen efforts against fraud targeting older adults. The center aims to help law enforcement combat criminal organizations that defraud Americans out of billions of dollars every year by tracking, assessing and escalating concerning patterns of alleged criminal fraud behavior – based on observations from online tools, across the country and more. According to the Federal Trade Commission, older Americans may have lost as much as $61.5 billion to fraud in 2023 alone.

NEFCC is the first-ever national effort to bring together resources from the private and public sectors to aid law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting criminal fraud rings targeting older Americans. NEFCC will leverage private sector data to help connect elder fraud cases across the U.S., identifying patterns and linking smaller, individual cases together to build comprehensive, integrated investigations that target large-scale fraud operations. With NEFCC's assistance, state and federal law enforcement agencies will be able to more efficiently identify and dismantle the most destructive criminal fraud enterprises, seize stolen assets, and return them to the victims.

Brady Finta, former FBI Supervisory Special Agent and founder of the San Diego Elder Justice Task Force, has been tapped to lead NEFCC as CEO. With over two decades of experience, his work at the FBI spanned from SWAT operations, to combatting transnational organized crime, to leading the first ever Elder Justice Task Force with a mission to combat elder fraud.

"Older Americans deserve our best efforts to protect them against the transnational organized crime rings defrauding them. As elder fraud soars, it is clear we need a whole-of-society approach to address this enormous threat. NEFCC is modeled on the success of the FBI San Diego Elder Justice Task Force, proving that coordination across sectors and applying an organized crime lens will lead to arrests, prosecutions and convictions. Importantly, NEFCC brings the private sector to this cause, which can add volumes of intelligence data to pursue justice for victims," said Finta.

Each of the NEFCC founding organizations – AARP, Amazon, Google and Walmart – is committed to combating fraud at the local, state, and national level, with a focus on protecting older adults through the sharing of resources, communication, and unprecedented collaboration.

"While fraud affects people of all ages, older adults often face the greatest financial losses, putting their retirement security and well-being at risk," said Kathy Stokes, Director of Fraud Prevention Programs, AARP Fraud Watch Network. "Built on a proven model for delivering results, the National Elder Fraud Coordination Center will play a critical role to address the fraud crisis in our country."

"At Amazon, we are committed to helping protect consumers from scams worldwide, which includes working collaboratively across the public and private sector to hold scammers accountable," said Scott Knapp, VP of Worldwide Buyer Risk Prevention, Amazon. "We're proud to be a founding member of the NEFCC and look forward to this coordination to strengthen our fight against scammers."

"Online scams are devastating, and the elderly are uniquely vulnerable," said Halimah DeLaine Prado, General Counsel, Google. "We've long believed in not only combating scams but using litigation to hold bad actors accountable. We're thrilled to build on that commitment by joining our industry peers in this new endeavor to keep some of the most susceptible users safer online."

"We work hard to keep our customers safe from fraud, and the NEFCC will help us be even more effective and stay ahead of scammers' continuously evolving tactics," said Claire Rushton, Senior Director, Investigations, Walmart. "By leveraging cutting-edge technology and industry expertise, we will relentlessly work together to protect those most vulnerable."

NEFCC began its work in March housed within the National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA), a nonprofit that works with industry and law enforcement to identify and prevent cyber threats. To learn more visit www.fightelderfraud.org.

About NEFCC
The National Elder Fraud Coordination Center (NEFCC) is a 501(c)(3) established in 2025 that brings the public and private sectors together to share fraud intelligence and build elder fraud cases through an organized crime lens. These cases will be shared with federal authorities for investigation and prosecution with a goal of disrupting the fraud business model.

About AARP
AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to the more than 100 million Americans 50-plus and their families: health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also works for individuals in the marketplace by sparking new solutions and allowing carefully chosen, high-quality products and services to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the nation's largest circulation publications, AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org/about-aarp/, www.aarp.org/español or follow @AARP, @AARPenEspañol and @AARPadvocates on social media.

SOURCE AARP