80-year-old woman loses 36K to scammer as Colorado sees sharp rise in cases targeting older adults

Colorado is seeing a sharp rise in scams targeting older adults, with many victims losing tens of thousands of dollars.

According to the FBI, the number of Coloradans aged 60 and older who reported financial losses from scams increased by 94% from 2024 to 2025. That same report estimates scammers stole nearly $150 million from that age group alone, accounting for almost half of the $355 million in fraud losses reported statewide.

An 80-year-old Colorado woman, who asked not to be identified, is now sharing her experience in the hope of warning others.

The woman said she was checking her email when her computer suddenly emitted a loud alert warning her not to shut it down and providing a phone number to call.

"It happened at the end of May this year," she said. "The message was, 'Don't turn your computer off or it will damage your computer.' Because the sound is startling, I didn't turn it off. I called the number."

The man who answered claimed to work for Apple. She said he told her the computer had been hacked and falsely accused her of being connected to a child pornography website where he claimed one of her credit cards had been used.

"He said, 'While you ok'd it at 4:30 a.m. yesterday or this morning,'" she recalled. "I said, 'I didn't,' because I didn't."

The scammer then claimed he was connecting her with Chase Bank. She said the person who identified himself as a bank employee sounded legitimate and promised to help recover her money.

"I just assumed because he said he was a Chase agent that it was legitimate," she said.

Then came instructions to buy gift cards.

"He told me, 'Go in and make a purchase with your card of 10 gift cards for $250 each,'" she said. "I didn't question it. I just did it."

She followed the instructions, providing the gift card numbers over the phone. Then she did it again, and again.

"He would say, 'OK, you can go home,'" she said. "So, ok, I went home. He'd say, 'I'll call you in the morning. Be ready to go at 8:30 a.m.'"

Over three days, she visited more than a dozen Sephora stores across the Denver metro area, both standalone and those in the department store Kohl's.

In total, about $26,000 was charged to her Chase credit card. Another $10,000 was charged to other credit cards.

Those other credit card companies reversed the fraudulent charges. Chase also reversed some of the charges but denied reimbursement for about $10,000.

That's when her friend Don Hartmann began asking questions.

"I asked them why they did not reverse this last $10,000," Hartmann said. "They said, 'Well, they were from Kohl's, and it looks like she was just shopping at Kohl's.'"

Hartmann, a financial adviser, said the transactions should have raised red flags.

"How they could not identify this as part of the same scam, it's the same person," he said. "It goes on for three days. How do you let anybody charge $26,000 on credit cards? Each one was $250. Each store was exactly the same amount of money."

The woman is now left with a $10,000 balance. She is retired and relies largely on Social Security income.

"If I have to pay this $10,000, it's going to make a big difference in my retirement," she said.

She said the financial loss is only part of the damage.

"Each time I have told this story, it brings deep emotions, and it brings tears to my eyes because I just can't believe that I fell for it," she said.

Now, she wants others to understand that anyone can become a victim.

"I thought I was pretty streetwise and intelligent and that I wouldn't fall for it," she said. "Don't think you're too smart to fall for it."

She said she has reported the scam and contacted Sephora.

A request for comment was sent to Sephora for details on any internal policies that may be in place to identify scams.

CBS Colorado also reached out to Chase Bank regarding the disputed $10,000. A Chase spokesperson said the company is reviewing the matter but needs additional time to gather information and respond.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.