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A total of 770 fraud scams were reported to Livermore police from 2023 to 2025, with nearly half of them coming from people 58 years old and above, according to the department.
But the occurrence of scams, and their impact on seniors, is not unique to Livermore.
Over the past five years, the annual fraud-related loss reported by seniors nationwide has increased, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Most recently in 2025, self-reported losses by adults 60 years and above totaled about $3.0 billion, up from about $1.0 billion in 2021.
Amid the nationwide rise in reported losses, the Livermore Police Department created an ongoing series of presentations to inform the community on how to identify scams and prevent their victimization.
LPD hosted its first “large-scale” Scam Awareness presentation April 15 at the Cedar Grove Community Church in Livermore, as introduced by Officer Tracy Meredith.
“There’s nothing more heartbreaking than to see a victim of a scam, where they really thought they were doing something good, and it turns out that they’ve lost a lot of money,” LPD Chief Jeramy Young said as part of the event’s opening welcome. “And a lot of times, it’s the senior community that is targeted.”
“If we can prevent a victim, that’s a huge win,” Young added.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of types of scams, Officer Don Swanson explained during the presentation.
Before a crowd of over 100 attendees, Swanson displayed the names of many scams by category.
Email spoofing, fake wi-fi networks, bank investigator impersonations, kidnapping hoax calls, romance scams, ATM skimming — the names went on and on, fitting into the category of direct targeting or technology, government, business, finance and relationships.
Methods for verifying something’s authenticity, such as caller ID, can’t be trusted anymore because all that can be spoofed and changed, he explained.
“This is one of those crimes where we just can’t put a bunch of extra cops on the street to prevent this,” Swanson said. “So it’s really all about education.”
Livermore Mayor John Marchand, a presentation attendee, agreed with Swanson on the importance of scam-related education.
“Information is power,” Marchand told the Pleasanton Weekly.
Among the event attendees hoping to learn about scam prevention was 71-year-old Livermore resident Lorrie Guerrios.
Guerrios said her identity has been stolen multiple times since 2001, including the theft of her money, Social Security number and driver’s license.
“I was hoping to get some information on how I can prevent this from happening again,” Guerrios said.
While having experienced a different type of scam, Susan O’Neill, 81, of Livermore, said she was attending the event out of fatigue for being swindled online.
“I get tired of changing my card,” O’Neill explained.
During the presentation, Swanson suggested that attendees watch out for red flags of potential scams including being contacted about a prize or problem and requests for money, private information or non-traditional payment such as crypto currency or gift cards. Also flagging possible scams are contacts who express urgency, evoke fear or encourage lying or privacy.
He encouraged attendees to secure their emails with a unique password, not shared with other accounts, and to use multi-factor authentication.
“Scams oftentimes are hard to recognize,” Swanson told the Pleasanton Weekly. “The scammers are really, really good.”
During the presentation, he highlighted specific examples of scams such as the direct targeting of grandparents.
“These can be very sophisticated,” Swanson said of grandparent scams. “They can even use AI to replicate someone’s voice.”
Someone posing as a police officer may claim that the receiver’s grandchild needs help, he explained.
“What if you even heard the voice of your grandchild where you’re 100% sure it’s them?” Swanson asked the crowd. “That’d be difficult to not help them out.”
In the case of romance scams, the farce can drag on for years, while trust is built, Swanson said.
The scammer may not ask for anything early on in the relationship. Their initial asks may be a small quantity of money that they later return to bolster trust.
“They’ve got lists and lists of people that they’re doing the same thing with,” Swanson said of relationship scammers. “They know that if they can groom this relationship, at some point in the future, they’ll get a payout.”
He warned the audience to be especially vigilant of relationship scams if dating online and someone refuses to meet in-person.
Following the presentation, Livermore resident Pam Coelho reflected on her ongoing struggle with scamming.
Coelho said her and her husband’s electronic devices were hacked about a week before the event. Losses of $5 and $10 ballooned to a $3,000 airline credit charge from an unknown buyer and multiple other fraudulent transactions.
“I’m a mess. I was so angry at first, and now I just sat here with tears in my eyes, because all the stuff he’s talking about – I’m going through,” Coelho said. “I don’t know where the end is.”
Swanson recommends that anyone who becomes a victim of fraud report the incident to the police.
For more information about LPD’s scam awareness initiative, visit the department website at police.livermoreca.gov.
