Protection Against Fraudulent Scams

By Samuetta Hill Drew One of the national morning ABC news shows, “Good Morning America”, once aired a story about a billion-dollar cryptocurrency fraud scam being perpetrated in the United States. A man who had been a victim was interviewed. He stated once he realized that it was a scam it was too late. He added he initially was too embarrassed to tell anyone, but realized others needed to know. The news anchor emphasized cryptocurrency scams funds are not reversible – a safety topic we featured in length last month. After that airing, I saw another public service commercial from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warning citizens about current scams. These two occurrences, along with others, led me to cover this segment on fighting against fraudulent scams. This week’s safety article outlines safety steps to implement that could potentially protect you from scams. There are several written by Amy Nofziger and Mark Fetterhoff, who are with AARP’s Fraud Watch Network helpline team. Let’s begin with first three. Clean out your wallet/purse – Prune back to the bare essentials, such as your driver’s license, a single debit card and one credit card, a bus pass, vehicle insurance card or whatever...