ATLANTA — The holiday season is not just a busy time for shoppers; it’s peak season for scammers, too.
Now, the state government has a new way to fight back.
Investment companies are now allowed by Georgia law to pause transactions for senior citizens that they suspect could be fraud and bring in state investigators. They’ve done it hundreds of times so far this year.
“It was like my heart sank and I felt like I was in a deep pit,” one Georgia senior citizen told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray, asking to remain anonymous.
A scammer posing as a federal agent convinced him to transfer $280,000 from his retirement accounts.
It’s just the kind of financial fraud a 2024 Georgia law called the SPEAR Act was designed to catch and stop.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Recall alert: Blood pressure medication recalled; may be contaminated with wrong drug
- Man shot at young shopper outside Lowe’s. He thought he should be rewarded, witness says
- Police ID suspect in deadly Bojangles shooting as employee
The law allows investment firms to pause transactions when they suspect senior fraud and alert the Secretary of State’s Office.
“They can hold it for seven days while they look into it. They report it to us. We work with the firm and with the senior, so we can make sure that it is No. 1, a legit transaction, and No. 2, it was something that the senior wanted to do,” Assistant Secretary of State Noula Zaharis said.
So far in 2025, there have been 720 victims reported to authorities through the law. -- 81 just in November.
Zaharis said the holidays are peak time for scams targeting seniors.
“It’s the high season, not just for holiday gift giving, but also for the scammers to come out and give a gift to themselves,” Zaharis said.
Authorities say with the SPEAR Act, they are having success targeting and finding suspects, but under state law, they cannot order them to pay restitution to victims.
The Secretary of State will be asking the General Assembly to give them that authority in the coming session to be able to order the crooks to return money to victims.
©2025 Cox Media Group
