Marketplace Morning Report How to freeze out scammers
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Apr 9, 2026 Shannon Miller, an elder law attorney in Gainesville, Florida who helps stop financial exploitation of older adults. She recounts a $2 million scam case and how courts can now serve scammers through their own texts. She explains legal tactics to pause transactions, use emergency guardianship, and freeze crypto wallets to recover funds and fund prevention efforts.
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Aging Can Increase Scam Vulnerability
- Aging brains can change in ways that increase vulnerability to financial exploitation.
- Marketplace's 2019 Brains and Losses investigation documented cognitive changes and real cases, like a 79-year-old school nurse who lost $200,000 to repeated calls.
Live Scam Call Cost A Retired Nurse $200000
- A 79-year-old school nurse lost $200,000 after persistent scam calls, including one received during a reporter's visit.
- David Brancaccio described the live call and the scale of repeated losses documented in the Brains and Losses series.
Emergency Guardianship Came A Day Too Late
- Shannon Miller described a client who lost $2 million over years and faced an additional half-million loss in progress.
- Bank pauses and an emergency guardianship arrived too late; two cashier's checks were issued before funds could be stopped.