Forum Organizers and Speakers
Last month, the Larimer County Office on Aging hosted their annual Fraud and Scams Forum for Seniors at the Chilson Center in Loveland. A panel of speakers including Barbara Bennett with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, Dolores Garza with the Fort Collins police Dept., Lori Metz with Larimer County Adult Protective Services, and Dave Sloat with the Loveland Police Dept. discussed the various frauds and scams seen in Larimer County.
Forum Organizers and Speakers Per the Better Business Bureau (BBB), about 1 in 5 individuals lose money to a scam each year. Estimated losses over $50 Billion in the U.S. occur annually! A local campaign by law enforcement agencies, “Don’t take the Bait” focuses on stopping scams in Larimer County.
Over 100 citizens attended the two hour informational forum. Loveland Mayor Jacki Marsh opened the forum with Ms. Garza discussing overseas scams affecting seniors in our county. Several key points Garza highlighted is never advertise yourself on social media channels with the growing romance scams. Be careful of duplicate fake real estate ads that are cons for grabbing your personal info. Garza pointed that the criminal process must be local as overseas scams are rarely prosecuted.
Local financial scams involving your bank assets are easier to prosecute as they can be traced. Scams involving gift cards are difficult to prosecute as there is normally no money trail. With any financial scam, your money is difficult to retrieve. Her last tip is to verify any products or services, such as the contractor scams before signing any contracts and always ask for references and check with BBB’s Scam Tracker website for any local scam updates.
Ms. Metz discussed the sweetheart scams which are increasing in our county. As mentioned previously, be aware of Facebook ads for companions as many are looking for sympathy and money.
Master Police Officer Sloat discussed the increasing Robocalls from deceptive telemarketers including the popular grandparent scam, where a fake grandson is asking for money to get out of jail or another situation. It’s best to verify the situation or not answering your phone or simply hanging up! Also, the computer tech scams are basically phishing scams to ask for money to fix your false computer problems. In the corporate world, a new spear phishing scam is hitting many organizations with a fake email sent by the CEO requesting to send an expensive gift card to someone. As Officer Sloat said, if it’s too good to be true, it likely is!
Ms. Bennett indicated seniors must be smarter than the scammers as scammers are getting more creative with new scam methods. She said to be aware of the fake arrest warrant for not doing jury duty and IRS scams requesting additional info from your tax return. Never give any personal info to these scammers! Bennett said to never open any email attachments or click on any links, which could be ransomware scams and hold your computer or personal info hostage for money or retrieve info from your computer. Never give donations over the phone. If you donate, go to your favorite charity’s website instead and donate online!
Overall, many excellent tips were given on scam awareness and how to eliminate these scams. Always verify the information involving friends or relatives before sending any money! Thanks to the Larimer County Office on Aging for hosting this educational seminar!