Fairfax ramps up anti‑scam outreach as APS reports $19 million in fiscal 2024 losses

Fairfax County officials and partner organizations on Friday updated the Board of Supervisors' Older Adults Committee on local efforts to prevent and respond to scams targeting older and vulnerable adults, and described limits to law‑enforcement remedies when perpetrators operate overseas.

The presentations, led by Melissa Smarr of Land Development Services and T.V. Nagasi of the Department of Family Services, reviewed the Silver Shield anti‑scam campaign, the county's Financial Exploitation Task Force and outreach work by the Consumer Protection Commission. Supervisor Alcorn opened the meeting by congratulating the Fairfax Area Agency on Aging on receiving a 2025 U.S. Aging Achievement Award for a virtual‑reality project the committee had seen earlier.

Why it matters: Local adult protective services (APS) reports show large dollar losses and limited recovery when scammers move funds out of reach. Fairfax officials said prevention and coordinated communications are the most effective tools available locally because many perpetrators and payment rails are international or quickly become hard to trace.

Melissa Smarr, Code Specialist 3 with Land Development Services and longtime coordinator of the Silver Shield campaign, traced the program to a 2017 Board matter and said the county has held outreach events across senior centers, libraries, community centers, homeowners associations and faith groups since the campaign launched. "we have been doing the Silver Shield…