LAS VEGAS ( FOX5 ) — FBI officials have issued a warning to Las Vegas Valley residents of a “spike” in scams targeting the elderly.

It’s not unique to the Las Vegas Valley: FBI Las Vegas Division’s Special Agent in Charge, Rafaik Mattar said the number of scams are increasing nationally. But, in the valley, the number of retirement communities open the door for scammers to prey on the vulnerability of elders.

“In our community here, since there’s a lot of the retirement demographic, we see more of the elder focused scams where they’re trying to prey on the elderly. We’ve really seen a spike in that in our community specifically,” Mattar said.

Mattar said reporting a scam is the number one line of defense.

“Even if it’s a small amount, we then could look at it and see if there is a pa

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