In conjunction with the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office the following FRAUD ALERTS have been published for your safety, warning of new scams and cons. Please share this information with members of your organization, as well as family, friends and neighbors.
Alerts to Help the Public
AARP Elderwatch: Refund anticipation loads carry a high price.»
February 2010: Tax Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) are short-term cash advances against a customer's anticipated income tax refund. You may get your refund a little bit earlier, but you will get a lot less money.
AARP Elderwatch: Work as a family to avoid scams »
January 2010: Some suggestions on how to help your elderly family members avoid becoming the victim of a scammer.
AARP Elderwatch: Don't be tripped up when traveling »
December 2009: The period of time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s can bring about a time when travel can go horribly wrong. It is the most expensive time of year for travel and with that it is important to pay attention to the details. Seniors can be especially vulnerable and are often a prime target for this type of fraud.
AARP Elderwatch "Why Older Americans are targeted more for scams»
October 10, 2009: Find out why criminals will target the senior population and why they seem to fall victim to the scams and fraud.
Consumer Alert "Don't accept this collection call" »
Several area residents have received threatening phone calls from a person claiming to be with a debt collection agency. Despite the consumer’s protest that they were not the person who owed the money, the caller persisted in his demand for payment, even threatening to file a civil suit or have the consumer arrested.AARP Elderwatch "There's no magic wand. Bad Credit cannot be erased" »
Due to the current state of the economy, seniors may, for the first time, find themselves in the position of having financial issues that have arisen unexpectedly and consequently have possibly negatively affected their credit scores. .
AARP Elderwatch "Help make free lunch seminars safer for our seniors" »
At these types of events, seniors may fall prey to deceptive marketing or talked into making an investment purchase that is not appropriate. Help improve the safety of “free lunch” investment seminars by becoming a Free Lunch Monitor.AARP Elderwatch "Watch out for Rebate scams."»
In these challenging economic times consumers are looking to save money in any way that they can. Manufacturers are aware of this and often use the rebate as a tactic.
Consumer Alert: Heartland Security Breach»
February 9, 2009: A company that processes up to 100 million credit card, debit card and payroll transactions per month, reported on January 20th that their computer system had been hacked in 2008.
Consumer Alert: When Your Grandson is not Your Grandson»
November 23, 2008: Scammers target seniors more often than any age group, and this is a scam that is specifically designed to trap seniors. Please share this with all the members of your organization so we don't have any more victims.
Consumer Alert: Local Rental Scam »
July 25, 2008: Crag's list scam where victim found her "dream home" and was victimized when she sent in her deposit into a person that didn't own the a home.