Betty Runkle, 80, and her husband Phil live in a one-story home after they could no longer manage the stairs in their old one.

"We're getting up in years and our children had left the nest," said Runkle.

What You Need To Know

  • Scams against older adults have been on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic

  • There are several groups that help older adults, including the Center for Elder Law and Justice

  • Scammers have stolen tens of thousands of dollars from older adults

Prior to moving, Runkle approached a man, Jeffrey Wackwitz, painting a porch on her street and hired him to help them move, as well as make modifications to their new home.

Improvements included a larger kitchen with new cabinets, a solid wall where glass sliders once stood, a new bathroom and a new front door, relocated closer to the driveway.

"Excited, but it didn't last very long," said Runkle.

That's because Wackwitz didn't do any of the work, as the couple grew frustrated waiting for him to start.

"He was a bonafide liar," she said. "We would give him money for stuff and he would buy it he said and put it in storage."

Instead, Runkle says he kept the money for himself and made excuses as to why he couldn't get materials out of storage.

The couple found themselves in severe debt, their home in foreclosure, their vehicle repossessed and their house stripped for parts.

"Very frustrating," she said. "My husband was having a nervous breakdown, literally. And eventually, he had a stroke."

Runkle then called the Cattaraugus County Sheriff's Office, after which a number of agencies got involved, including Adult Protective Services and the Center for Elder Law and Justice.

"I thought I needed to do something because I was tired of being taken advantage of. And I like to stand up for my rights," said Runkle.

"It is fairly common to see financial exploitation amongst older adults," said Mike Lee, a social worker with the Center for Elder Law and Justice.

Lee is part of the enhanced multidisciplinary team that reviews cases like the Runkle's.

"It's always incredibly frustrating," said Lee. "It takes a lot to unpack the cases where it is that trusted individual in somebody's life."

Lee says scams like this happen all the time to older adults, yet many don't come forward.

"And it's not something you need to be ashamed of or embarrassed about that it happened," he said. "That's not an action that you chose to take, somebody else chose to take your trust and take advantage of that. You didn't do anything wrong by trusting somebody in a reasonable manner."

Runkle is grateful for the support.

"I don't know what we would have done without them. We would have been totally lost," said Runkle.

In part two of this series, a look at what the Center for Elder Law and Justice does for its clients. There will also be an update on what happened to the contractor who failed to do the work he was hired to do.

A list of resources can be found below: