AARP Hawaiʻi Hosts Free April Events to Help Residents Fight Scams

Hawaii seniors lost more than $18 million to online crime in 2024, and AARP Hawaiʻi State Director Keali'i Lopez says that figure is almost certainly an undercount. Too many kūpuna never report being defrauded, she says, because of shame. AARP is spending all of April trying to close that gap, hosting a series of free fraud prevention workshops, webinars, and in-person document shredding events across the Big Island and statewide, with no membership required to attend any of them.

The scale of the problem is stark. FBI data puts Hawaii's total online crime losses at $55.18 million in 2024, while FTC figures show $61.6 million in reported scam losses statewide, led by imposter schemes, identity theft, and credit bureau fraud. Those figures track with a worsening trend: Hawaii internet crime losses jumped 45 percent between 2022 and 2023, growing faster than the national average. Nationally, the FTC estimates older Americans alone lost as much as $81.5 billion to financial fraud in a single year.

"Kūpuna work hard all their lives to save money," Lopez said. "The frauds reported to the FTC are only a fraction of what is actually lost. Too many people don't report fraud because of embarrassment. But scammers are clever and experienced in taking people's money. They are criminals. Consumers who lose money to fraud should blame the scammers, not themselves."

The most time-sensitive Big Island opportunities are two free document shredding events. On April 18, Kamana Senior Center in Hilo opens from 8 to 11 a.m. for a shredding session paired with a food drive; bring rice or canned goods along with any paperwork carrying personal information — bank statements, old tax records, anything with a Social Security number on it. A second shredding event runs April 28 from 8 a.m. to noon at 73-4164 Huli Koa Drive in Kailua-Kona, conducted in partnership with Access Information Protected, with a two-bag or two-box limit per person.

The virtual calendar runs the full month. A telephone town hall focused specifically on cryptocurrency fraud takes place April 11 from 9 to 10 a.m. Webinars include FBI Spotlight on Scams on April 8 at 1 p.m., Anatomy of a Scam on April 15 at 10 a.m., Stay Safe in a Digital World on April 23 at 10 a.m., and Spot and Report Medicare Fraud on April 30 at 10 a.m. Senior Planet from AARP adds two "Be Smarter and Safer Online" sessions on April 7 and April 28, both at 10 a.m.

Cryptocurrency scams have drawn particular focus from AARP fraud prevention expert Doug Shadel, who has led Big Island workshops explaining how crypto kiosks — which look nearly identical to standard bank ATMs — serve as transfer tools that allow scammers to move stolen funds quickly and anonymously. That concern is now advancing through the Legislature: AARP Hawaiʻi is backing Senate Bill 2387 and House Bill 2003, both of which would cap crypto ATM transactions at $2,000 and add consumer protections.

State Rep. Scot Z. Matayoshi, chair of the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, put it plainly: "It seems fraud scams are increasing exponentially — mostly kupuna getting ripped off. It's crushing."

Anyone planning to attend a workshop will get more out of it by arriving prepared. Pull together recent suspicious texts, emails, or bank alerts before going; screenshot any unsolicited contact and note whatever institution a scammer claimed to represent. If fraud has already occurred, the fastest first steps are contacting the bank directly, filing a report with Hawaiʻi Police Department, and submitting a complaint to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360 is staffed Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Register for any April event at aarp.org/local, through the AARP Hawaiʻi Facebook page events tab, or by calling 877-926-8300.