Acting New Mexico Securities Division Director Benjamin Schrope offers information to help avoid financial loss. Here's a transcript of his conversation with KC Counts:
KC Counts:
Why don't you start by telling us how prevalent financial exploitation of seniors is in New Mexico?
Benjamin Schrope:
It's very prevalent. For New Mexico specifically, we lost more than 85.5 million to internet crime in 2025. That's up from 76.5 million in 2024. Nationwide, people 16 over lost 7.75 billion to internet crime last year.
KC Counts:
Tell us what some of the more common ways that people get entrapped are.
Benjamin Schrope:
Crypto dominates most types of fraud, especially investment fraud. Statistics show it makes up about 72% of all investment fraud. And that's a big deal thinking about the fact that crypto has just kind of come on the scene recently and it didn't take long for it to dominate. Large scale fraud, lots of money, and that's the most common we see. We get probably hundreds of complaints every year here at the Securities Division, and most of the complaints do involve crypto, crypto investment fraud, and that sort of thing. And it's, again, as we stated earlier, it's really, really prevalent, and it gets worse and worse every year.
KC Counts:
There seem to be more clever ways for people to take advantage of others.
Benjamin Schrope:
Yes.
KC Counts:
And so, we hear some of these stories with AI, for example, like a voice of a loved one being mimicked that you're convinced that it really is, say your grandchild who's been kidnapped and taken to Mexico. How do we help our elders take a moment, stop, analyze, maybe ask for help.
Benjamin Schrope:
Thank you for asking. And if I can add, technology has been advancing at such a rapid pace. It's not just voices that can be duplicated, but also video, pictures. So you might get a screenshot or you might think that you're having a Zoom call or a video call with somebody. And in fact, AI could deep fake the likeness of somebody in the form of a video at this particular point in time. So I think again, it's a good question and it's important to be able to protect ourselves, protect our family from those sorts of fakes and scams. And I think one way to do it is kind of the password method that we used to use way back when. If somebody's identifying themselves as a family member, having a secret word or a password or something like that and asking them that, maybe even a series of passwords in this day and age.
KC Counts:
So something that is so, kind of we think of from generations ago can still help keep us safe today. That kind of blows your mind a little bit, right?
Benjamin Schrope:
Absolutely, absolutely.
KC Counts:
You also mentioned to name a trusted contact in terms of having sort of a safety infrastructure, if you will.
Benjamin Schrope:
Correct. So a trusted contact, that's a person that's close to you that you can arrange to be contacted. in the event of a suspected fraud or other financial exploitation. And New Mexico law authorizes a broker agent or an investment advisor or somebody in the securities industry, say, to contact that person when there's a fraud or other forms of financial exploitation suspected. And we really encourage that. It's particularly important if you're unavailable and your financial institution or your broker dealers trying to contact you because they see something's amiss, anything can happen, we can be away, we can be out of pocket, we can be in the hospital, and it offers an additional layer of protection that in this day and age is very important.
KC Counts:
And because it's important that, you know, kind of time is of the essence when you suspect something's happened, right?
Benjamin Schrope:
Yes. If something is suspected, these firms, they can delay a transaction. Sometimes they may be able to suspend all transactions on an account depending on the agreement with the customer. But we really want to protect people. But at the same time. people are free to do what they want with their money and their property. So I think that trusted contact does help meet that the time is of the essence situation that we find ourselves in.
KC Counts:
And I couldn't help but wonder when you talked about the numbers that we saw and how they're increasing, how much goes unreported? Do we even have an idea of what that number might look like?
Benjamin Schrope:
Not at all. And that's a super great point. From what we've seen, it is very likely that these crimes are underreported. So it's probably a lot greater than what the statistics show because the statistics are based on complaints.
KC Counts:
All right, so a place to go for more information and more helpful
tips.
Benjamin Schrope:
We really, really encourage people to contact the Securities Division of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department. If they have a question, about a potential investment, whether it be in crypto or anything else. The old investment scams are absolutely still out there, but it's our job to look into this for people. If they have a question about somebody who's selling them a security or offering to sell them an investment, for the most part, people in the securities industry that sell investments have to be registered and we can look them up. Again, we encourage people to contact the security If they have any sort of question about any potential investment, we can look it up. We can see if it's legitimate, if they're registered like they're supposed to be. That's why we're here. That's what the tax dollars pay us for. We're here to serve the public and we want to serve the public. We like to serve the public and absolutely contact us.
KC Counts:
And I imagine that also kind of helps. I can't help but think the bad guys are a little ahead right now, but those reports kind of come together to help build cases and help us solve these issues and catch up with them, do they not?
Benjamin Schrope:
If we can, absolutely. We do have an enforcement arm at the Securities Division. And if particularly if fraud's going on at the local level within the state of New Mexico or even victims in New Mexico, we will investigate these potential crimes and we can prosecute people criminally and civilly and administratively as well.
KC Counts:
Right, well it sounds like just such a complex and growing issue. What have I not asked that you think is important for people to know.
Benjamin Schrope:
We are constantly engaging in community outreach, regularly engaging in community outreach. We do presentations at community and senior centers regularly in addition to being able to reach us on our website or by telephone.
KC Counts:
Thank you very much for sharing this important information with us. We appreciate it.
Benjamin Schrope:
You're welcome. Thank you for having us.
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