There's been an alarming rise in fraud scams across the US.

And according to the FBI, Americans over the age of 60 are increasingly the victims.

Federal investigators have new data showing fraud committed online and over the phone is adding up to nearly $1,000,000,000 in losses each year.

You've likely been on the other end of one of those calls.

The report also finds New Jersey ranked fifth in the nation in overall losses.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis visited a senior center in South Jersey where members of the FBI warned the community how to be on the lookout.

How many times that somebody thought it was out near the IRS as fast know by.

A group of special agents from the FBI and IRS spoke to a roomful of seniors in Pemberton today about fraud schemes that are growing more sophisticated by the year, targeting seniors who simply can't keep up with the trickery and changing technology.

What they try and do is take advantage of time and opportunity.

How fast can I get you to give me what it is that I need so I can get off the phone with you before you realize what the hell just happened?

The IRS will never ask you for credit card or debit card information for ever.

Period.

They explained how seniors are especially vulnerable because fraudsters know they have time on their hands to take phone calls are more likely to be polite, even if it feels wrong, and they're more likely to have wealth and assets that can be exploited.

You won the European lottery.

Congratulations.

You just have to pay European taxes first.

No, by the way, the European law prevents us from taking your winnings and paying your taxes.

So what are they looking for?

Looking for that advance fee.

There's multiple iterations of this.

That's the classic example.

Rich gave many examples of the telephone and email scams that asked for money up front, often playing on people's emotions like excitement or fear or worse romantic schemes that can last years where fraudsters continually find themselves in need of financial support.

What's worse, AIG is making it possible to do this even when they don't speak the same language.

Now, what you can do is speak in the native language of the fraudster and it can actually translate into perfect English.

And you can even do voice over where it will be.

You can get on the phone and it will have someone with a perfect American English accent.

It's actually a fraud over the phone.

One attendee, Bobby Morris, just dealt with this when, I suppose a woman calling the wrong number launched a phone relationship that ended with death threats when Morris asked to face time.

The technology is changing so fast and a lot of us old folks can't keep up with it.

But if the phone calls are hard to detect, the emails can be even trickier, says Stephen Rich.

I got an email from Netflix dot com.

This is screenshots from my my personal life said I'm suspended due to payment error and I was like, Pop, that looks pretty professional, right?

It took me a minute to figure out that yet.

Rich gave pointers like hovering your mouse over the sender's name and email to see the dropdown that indicates where the email is actually coming from.

Abby Liguori says one of her closest friends gave away her life savings in a phone scheme and she herself almost fell victim to a timeshare scheme that offered to pay her exorbitant fees.

But she called her son first.

One of the lessons of today.

It's important to call your son or your daughter or somebody you trust because they can look at it with a fresh outlook and therefore you will not fall victim to the scam.

It's a shame that it's come to that in this world.

But you have to really be aware.

And so many seniors aren't really computer savvy.

So this is a good education for a.

Lot of them.

But it's not just seniors who are vulnerable, and sometimes calls can come in from legitimate numbers.

So the biggest takeaway for all of us, be aware of scams that create a false sense of urgency and never make a payment in a nontraditional way.

In Pemberton, I'm Joanna Gagis NJ Spotlight News.