Attorney General Sunday says new elder-exploitation unit has 37 open cases and is overwhelmed

Attorney General General Sunday told lawmakers the newly created elder-exploitation section in the attorney general’s office has 22 open cases in the eastern part of the state, six in the central region and nine in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County — 37 open investigations in all — and that the unit is already overwhelmed.

“The reality is they are under attack like we've never seen,” General Sunday said, arguing that technology, including artificial intelligence, has “supercharged these scams” and made them harder to detect. “Education is a key to victory in most of these situations,” he added.

The section, established roughly five to six months earlier, is staffed by a chief deputy attorney general, a deputy attorney general, an executive assistant, a section director and four special agents, General Sunday said. He told lawmakers the office was “flooded with requests to take cases” when the unit was announced and that many local law-enforcement agencies lack the personnel and specialist training required to pursue complex financial-exploitation investigations.

General Sunday credited area agencies on aging for identifying problems at the community level and thanked legislators and administration partners for helping stand up the unit. He described the team as a “collaborative effort” pulling together specialists already present across the office to focus on elder exploitation.

A lawmaker who asked the question recalled that legislation passed about 10–15 years ago increased opportunities for caregivers to be appointed as executors of estates, which had been one vector for fraud. The lawmaker also described a recent constituent case in which a man was told by a caller impersonating his son that he needed $15,000 immediately; the withdrawal was stopped at the bank after a banker asked whether the constituent had spoken to his son.

General Sunday said the new section will grow as the need continues and emphasized both prevention and prosecution: “we wanna investigate them and prosecute them,” he said. Lawmakers thanked him and the exchange concluded with General Sunday reiterating that the effort is “all hands on deck.”

No formal votes or actions were recorded on the topic during this exchange; the discussion focused on staffing, caseloads and interagency coordination.