MAORCA SENIOR FRAUD INVESTIGATOR RESPONSE GUIDE
Follow the transaction. Protect the victim. Build the case.
1. ENTER THE CASE
- Live transaction referred by cashier, manager, or money-services employee
- Completed gift-card, cash, transfer, or cryptocurrency loss
- Money-services activity with repeated senders, recipients, or locations
- Online-order activity suggesting fraud-funded fulfillment or marketplace laundering
FIRST OBJECTIVE
Slow additional loss, determine whether the customer is a victim, preserve key facts, and identify the payment destination.
2. PRESERVE / FOLLOW THE VALUE
- Receipt, transaction ID, location, date/time, employee observations
- CCTV and vehicle information when lawfully available
- Gift-card identifiers and redemption information
- Money-transfer sender/recipient information
- Crypto wallet, payment account, marketplace account, email, phone, domain, shipping, or pickup information
WORKING MODEL
Victim → scam narrative → payment → destination → conversion of proceeds → merchandise/cash movement → related transactions.
PAYMENT-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
Gift cards
Where were cards purchased, how were numbers transmitted, and where were they redeemed?
Money services
Repeated recipient? Multiple senders? Multiple stores? Possible mule?
Online orders
Where did the recipient think they bought the item? Who did they actually pay? What funded the retailer order?
Cash / crypto
How was cash delivered or deposited? Which ATM, wallet, courier, or kiosk received value?
VICTIM OUTREACH
- Use official company channels and allow independent verification of who you are.
- Do not ask for passwords, PINs, or verification codes.
- Contact the victim first when practical. A relative or caregiver may be involved in exploitation.
- Encourage the victim to involve a Trusted Person of their choosing.
- Coordinate with law enforcement or APS when appropriate.
INVESTIGATOR LEGITIMACY
If your prevention message works, the victim should be cautious about you too. Give them a safe way to verify your identity.
INTELLIGENCE / CASE BUILD
- Document the exact fraud story and instructions given to the victim.
- Link phone numbers, emails, domains, redemption accounts, recipients, wallets, marketplace users, shipping addresses, and devices where authorized.
- Look for related victims, transactions, stores, and jurisdictions.
- Use Senior Fraud Concern alerts for potential victims, not suspect BOLOs.
- Research elder/vulnerable-adult exploitation statutes plus traditional fraud, theft-by-deception, conspiracy, identity-theft, computer-crime, and money-laundering statutes.
PARTNERS: Local LE · Adult Protective Services · prosecutors/AG offices · FBI · U.S. Secret Service · HSI · USPIS · financial institutions · gift-card/payment providers · Elder Justice multidisciplinary teams.