When I got a call saying my water bill was past due, all I could think about was, “Oh no, my plant babies.” The guy told me I had to go make a payment at a crypto ATM in town.

Recognize fraud sooner with AARP so your money lives longer.

Crypto ATM.

good evening and welcome to PBS Fort Wayne.

>> This is a good show for you tonight to watch because we're going to have some information that you might find very helpful or if not you perhaps someone in your family.

I'm the host of the show Sandy Thomson, but our real guests are coming up in a minute.

I will be introducing introducing them to you.

We're going to talk with AARP representatives and while we're going to learn a little bit more about the things that they do beyond what you normally say that they do and we're going to focus on a special program they have on fraud watch.

How about that?

That's something that it seems like nowadays is much more common.

>> So we need some more information and some good tips on how to handle that.

OK, let's introduce and meet some of our guests tonight right next to me.

>> You're going to find Emily Gordon.

>> Emily is came down for a minute or came up from Indianapolis.

Yep.

I say Indianapolis and it came up from Indianapolis from the central office there and she's the director of community engagement.

>> So you're pretty active woman and how long have you been with AARP?

>> This is coming up on three years now and yeah, I've been very busy.

I enjoy I enjoy what I get to do.

So first time in Fort Wayne ?

No, I get to come up to Fort Wayne quite a lot actually .

So I'm up here probably once a month or so with the volunteers you're going to meet in a second.

I know.

>> I know and you've got a good group of volunteers first of all in the center we have and I think that you would know and is the one in the center there Rathner and volunteer with the AARP.

>> That is correct.

For how long and probably eight years.

Oh, a long time.

All right.

We're speaking to a man with experience then and Ruth Ruth Ford, thank you for volunteering for AARP.

>> We had a chance to chat a little bit before the show and Ruth comes to AARP with a lot of experience, a lot of different programs that you were involved with and headed up at Huntington University.

>> She tried to retire.

That didn't work so and now she's been volunteering for AARP.

>> You must love it.

I definitely do.

I've been very involved with carpet and other aspects and other issues on aging.

>> It's very important for us to be informed and AARP is a real advocate for us.

>> Yes, it is for sure.

And I said to you that most of us have a concept or an idea of what we think AARP does but we're going to go beyond that tonight.

>> Let's start with you Amawi give me an overview again what most people think AARP does.

>> Yeah, I think the first thing that comes to people's minds often is that AARP is just insurance or it might be some good discounts when you turn 50.

But I'm here tonight hopefully to show everyone that we're a little bit more than that.

I was telling you before the show where the nation's largest non partizan nonprofit in the country it's amazing.

>> Yeah.

We have about thirty eight million members nationwide.

We're in all 50 states and three territories.

We have state offices in and so our work goes far and wide and then right down into the local level in our local communities as well and you know which I'm sure will do nothing but grow.

>> We had a hurricane on here recently who said that every day every day 10000 people turn 65 in the country.

>> You know, so your audience is certainly going to continue to grow with that as well.

>> Yeah, OK, And can you jump in on this and are there other things that you thought AARP did before you got involved or that your family or friends might ask you about?

>> Well, the reason I got involved with AARP is I moved back to Fort Wayne after several years away in Toledo, Ohio.

Oh, my mother and my mother in law both needed caregiving.

OK, so we're going to start taking care of them.

My mom lived in her own house and then eventually I moved her across the street, another home and I was able to go back and forth.

But there's a lot of things about caregiving you know, doctors, hospitals and what's available, what programs and I went to a meeting sponsored by AARP on health on caregiving.

Yeah.

And I was impressed and my wife and I then became volunteers after that meeting.

>> Is your wife still involved?

Yes.

Oh my well we had a fourth seat.

>> We could have it here and there as well.

OK, Ruth, what about you?

What drew you to and hear the most recent volunteer with the organization?

What Drew you to it?

>> Why did you want to become involved?

When I was doing doctoral work 20 years ago I had the opportunity to go to the national headquarters and actually do research.

There's been a lot of very valuable research that's come out of some the aging issues.

Yeah, and then I've been very involved with occupational therapist and doing driver safety activities with Calford and we have a very valuable driver safety program.

>> Oh gipped driver safety.

I didn't know that through a really really.

>> So I mean there would be one in Fort Wayne .

Yes well you you go on the website and find an area that would provide the driver safety and a variety of different programs going on.

>> Oh that is cool to know.

Yeah if you go Arpita org and and look up driver safety you can get all the information there about it.

>> It's a really great program .

>> Emily , question about that driver program because this has come up several times here on like the hand when people talk about maybe a parent or grandparent that maybe you know beginning to get dementia, Alzheimer's or something one of the conditions within the dementia umbrella and they feel they need to remove the car keys from them and you're waiting on that and somebody you know, somebody said that there's a program a driving program that can evaluate that.

>> Go ahead, Ruth.

So it's the program for caregivers.

It's called We Need to Talk but also for the driver if there want to question whether they should be driving, they can certainly do to the driver safety program and also through the car fit there's opportunities for them to get more information about whether they are should be continuing to drive or what are some of the alternatives you don't have to stop driving.

Maybe there's ways to right down to be safer on the road because driving has changed so radically in the last few years.

>> I'm scared to drive now.

>> Yeah.

Good luck driving back and forth.

Right exactly.

Yeah.

Well thank you for telling that telling us that and again this is a comment that is a question that we get quite a lot about taking the keys away from them and it's an emotional thing.

>> We've had all sorts of recommendations from having the doctor tell them that it's time to maybe you guys would know better than I keeping the car there in the garage even so they don't feel like it's the cars going away.

>> But then you just say hey, let's go get in your car and I'll drive you to get your prescription, something like that.

>> What do you think you're shaking your head?

Oh yes.

I went through that with my father.

Oh, did you?

And I sat down with my dad and I said because I had driven with him in his driving got kind of erratic and I sat down with my dad and I said Dad , I said you're driving is not very good any longer.

And he said I don't want you to hurt yourself but I know you wouldn't want to hurt somebody else.

A good way to approach and I said I'm not taking your keys away from you but I think you need to consider that and my father had his car and he kept all his things in his trunk.

>> That was his that was his his space.

>> And so my father all did have to go out, start up, roll up the garage door, start up the vehicle.

He'd pull it out and you do what you wanted to do with in the car and then he pull it back in and that was enough said that was enough to satisfy him.

>> Yeah.

And to make him still feel like he had the independence.

>> Right.

The question and I do want to remind you all if you've not watched like the had before our goal our purpose is always to provide information and an education on topics that you will probably face at some time in your LIFE Ahead and will have some information to go by now also you'll see that phone number right there on the bottom of the screen.

>> You'll see that periodically here during this show you can call I've got three people right here that are experts in this area that can help answer your phone calls and and perhaps give you some directions that you might want individually.

>> OK, all right.

Let's talk a little bit, Emily , about fraud.

Watch.

>> That's a big topic and I love the name because that's really what it is if we're talking about scams and it's fraud, it's just fraud.

>> But AARP gotten a grip on that and have really designed a good program.

>> Can you talk about that with me?

Yeah, and we also have some information that we can show you on the screen as well.

>> Some slides go ahead.

Make sure you get the information out there for everyone.

But AARP has a National Fraud Watch network which is our program.

It's really two part part of it is educating people so that they can recognize how to spot a scam and how to recognize one.

And we always say if you can spot a scam you can stop a scam .

So our goal is to let people know what's happening out there.

Stay up to date with the latest things that we're seeing but then also provide support for victims.

And so what I hope people take away from this evening is that these people who are doing the scams and and fraud, they're really criminals.

These are crimes.

So people are victims of a crime and I hope that people will take away that.

>> That doesn't need to be shame around that.

I think sometimes people feel embarrassed or might feel discouraged to report if they if they have been scammed but hopefully remembering this this is criminal activity and right.

>> Yeah.

So I know there are a million millions of dollars that are lost every year because of scams but and there's actually a national record of that dollar amount but they figure it's at least twice that because as you mentioned a lot of people don't report it, especially some certain scams.

>> They might be too embarrassed to admit that they got taken on something.

>> Let's talk about some of the types of scams or fraud that are current right now are most popular.

>> Yeah, I guess what we're seeing the most of top of the list every month are fraud watch team comes out with the top scams that we're seeing.

>> And so when I was doing our research for tonight's episode The Top top top of the list was employment scams.

>> And so, you know, you might not be looking for a job that somebody you know might be and they're seeing a job ad that comes up on a website or a Web page.

It looks great.

It's in your local community.

You click on the link and really what's happening is they're trying to get your information from you.

They're trying to get you to send your Social Security number because you're applying for a job, your email address where you live, things like that taking that and then stealing your identity essentially.

And so that's kind of top of the list what we're seeing right now.

>> Another one is romance scams.

That's one that you know, you see a lot about that on on TV a lot.

Dr. Phil, I think just to punish romance games and that's one that probably is underreported because people are very embarrassed.

>> But yeah, you know, many people men and women have lost their entire retirement.

>> Exactly.

And I think what happens with the romance scams is that you're trusting someone and you're building a relationship with them.

Sometimes what's happening and we're seeing is we're meeting people online and you haven't met them in person and so people are, you know, trusting these people that they think they know who they are and then ultimately they're getting scammed out of money or maybe they're being asked to invest in their loved one's business or something like that and it just kind of spirals from there.

>> But it's very, very, very common who if you can give a profile falls into that category of susceptible to a romance scam.

>> I would say anyone is susceptible to a romance scam.

I do think that our research shows that scammers tend to target people over 50 because they think that that's where the wealth is.

That's where the money is where people have savings, they have retirement savings.

And so I think that people over 50 tend to be more of a target but anybody can fall victim to one of these romance scams.

>> I've seen people young and older, you know, and for older people they might also assume oh, they've lost their their partner or their spouse or whatever.

>> So they're lonely so they'll fall and yeah, I know someone from this area actually that's younger in 30 so I think it will be in the 30s husband and wife that are professionals and the husband is even a teacher and a coach and you know whatever else and I mean they're really smart people but fell into believing website and of course that ruined their marriage and and it was a scam.

>> It wasn't at all what they thought that it was going to be.

>> We have a phone call.

Let me get to that and then we're going to get back to more fraud.

>> Yeah, OK. All right.

This phone call by the way is from Shannon and she says Is there a car model that provides easier access for senior drivers to get in and out?

>> Good question.

OK, do you have any comments on that?

Ruth, you look like you know her well.

>> Honestly it's all individual to the person that is driving the car or getting in and out of the car.

Obviously if you have a four door it's probably going to be easier than heavy to door to get in and out of because of the door or door away and also the width of the door away from the seat.

>> It just makes it harder.

Oh, SUVs and trucks which we all kind of love because you got a better line of sight for driving.

The problem with them is you have to step up into them.

But you know what auto industry is now becoming aware of a lot of people having limitations whether they're aging or disabilities, whatever.

So they're putting in armed grab bars and there are after manufacturing devices that can also assist with transfers and some of the things that we do a car fit is actually helps them problem solve how to make getting the transfers into the car safer and easier.

>> Yeah, those are good suggestions.

>> I found myself that if I'm getting in somebody else's car again it's a big truck or whatever it's like oh that's a big step that is a big step.

>> And I also just recently heard from a friend that found an automobile that when you put it in or when you stop and you put it in park it comes lowers yeah it lowers some of the amount of some of the modified vans will actually lower so you can do the transfers in and out.

So there are vehicles that will go down and many of those city busses will do that too.

>> OK. All right.

Well that's a good recommendation and we also have another call coming in here.

>> I'll get that in just a second for you as they finish here with the phone operator and this is from Lewis Lewis.

>> By the way, thank you so much for watching us here on life .

And we always try to have good information and we'll try to have a good answer for you here on your particular problem.

>> Lewis says this he said I'm getting pestered.

I love that twice a week asking if I'm interested in selling my home.

>> I hear that happens a lot here.

>> I'm interested if I'm interested in selling my home.

Is this a scam and how do they get my informtion?

>> Well, thank you for calling in and I think if you're getting called twice a week asking if somebody can buy your home, I would imagine it probably is a scam.

So you're right to kind of think that way, have your senses go off and say maybe something doesn't feel quite right.

I think your information gets out there in a variety of different ways.

I think, you know, when you're filling out a form to sign up for something or you're buying something that the companies out there have really clever ways these days of gathering people's information.

And so your phone number might be out there in the Internet or in the world somewhere and that's how they're getting your number.

My advice would be to definitely report this.

We have AARP has our fraud watch network.

We have a phone number where you can call and report scams but also we have if you go to our website which they're showing on the screen now AARP degree fraud Watch Network if you head there we have a scam tracking map.

So it's a you type in your zip code and you can have a look and see if there are other people in the area that are going through the same thing.

So they're getting the same type of phone calls or there's other similar scams that are happening in your area.

So I pulled it up for Indianapolis this morning and you see the map of the area and the different scams or category by the number of people who have been victimized in your area.

>> So we could do that for the Fort Wayne area.

Exactly.

You can do it wherever you live in the country, type in your zip code and it will pull up local scams close to you so you can see what's happening and the more you know, the more you can keep keep an eye out and make sure that your you're not falling victim to anything but being suspicious of a call like that is definitely the right thing to do.

>> Good for you Lewis for being a little bit apprehensive about that.

>> And again, you know the caution giving out your email address or your phone number do be careful about that.

And remember once when I went to the home show and you know how you can sign up for all kinds of things which I'd never done that I mean for the next two months I had sold getting phone calls from kitchen cabinets to appointments to everything and I thought I don't think I'll do that anymore.

>> I don't give out my information again.

>> And when I do one thing I was going to say there aren't a lot there are legitimate companies that are buying houses and a lot of times they get those from the title records and such.

But and like anything if you're getting calls from people numbers you do not recognize, just don't answer them the right that's the main thing.

You know, Linc's you're on the computer links that you don't recognize and such don't click on them, right?

>> Exactly.

Yeah.

>> You know if you see something on Facebook or you get an email from an address you've never heard of and you don't know the people just don't even click on it.

>> I've heard it and tell me if I'm correct or not that like on the phone if you get a scam phone call and if you even click on that number maybe you don't actually talk and say hello, how are you?

But it's a fake number you can tell.

So you just pick up the phone then hang it back up.

>> But the fact you picked up the phone lets their computers know this is a valid home valid the correct phone number and I'll keep calling it again and I'll also sell that number to another company.

>> Yeah.

So it's always important to block those calls so that each time you get in before you even do anything with just go click it on your cell phone.

Just put block.

>> Good idea.

Good idea again block by block delete delete delete you know is the best thing to do OK and I think you're on the line with us and what question do you have for our panel this evening?

>> Oh thank you for having this program.

Well Michael I'm seventy one and regarding seniors who are in a nursing home and they don't have no family, no one cares you know about grandma grandpa are we finding any fraud in these seniors stuck in a nursing home, their property being sold or something like that?

They're a home that's a little bit more serious than a handyman coming around trying to patch up in people's property property being swindled more or less.

>> Thank you.

OK, thank you.

And who can address that you're all looking at each other.

>> Yeah that's right.

That's I guess that's the question I hadn't thought about it.

I haven't come across the and when we study these things about scams that really hasn't been one that well we appreciate Ed for bringing that up Emily .

>> Yeah, I think and I think to Ed's point is something that we might not have read about specifically before coming here.

But I what I would say is scammers are becoming so much more intelligent and smart with how they are figuring out ways to to take money from people.

Right.

And so I would say it's probably pretty likely that people are figuring out ways to take advantage of those who don't have a way of defending themselves and so it's scary but they're figuring out these new ways to to steal money and even even like for telephone calls they figure figured out if they put your area code like two six zero you think it's a local call and so you and your group you have a comment?

Yes.

With our property tax there's now a fraud online that you can oh oh I saw that.

>> So I would recommend that you get that protection it's free through the county and it would help protect even a person in a nursing home so as soon as she would be targeted they would notify you that somebody was targeting or a property.

>> I think it's just the Allen County Treasurer.

Correct?

I remember when I got my property tax invoice if you will.

>> There was a separate flier in there about the fraud watch if you will.

>> Let's go back to Fraud Watch.

We're getting very close on time here this evening.

Emily , can you mention some of the other ones that we have in addition to employment and romance?

>> Yeah, I was actually going to let Ed tell us a story about a type of scam he actually had experience with and to do with technology and using your computer and things like that.

>> Technology is technology is another one.

Yes.

My wife was on her Internet account and her email account excuse me and she couldn't get into it and so she called the email provider and found out that somebody had hacked into it and taken over her account.

So we we knew we had to call the email people and they had to set up a new suspend her old one new went on but oh now what do we do because the email have financial information, all this personal information and so we called I called the AARP fraud line and the person that answered the call was a former Justice Department employee and he went through exactly what to do put us at ease that this happens.

These are the steps you're going to need to take we and you can solve it thanks to Fraud Watch.

>> You know, I just hate that we've used up our own show.

>> Hopefully maybe you'll come back some time and we can finish the many, many questions that we have here.

AARP again website you can check into that for information.

You can check into the fraud watch as well and you can either report claims there or find out what's what's the most common thing here in your own particular area.

Can't thank these people enough but I will try Ruth and Emily , thank you so much and drive safely went back to Indianapolis the rest of you.

I'll see you next week right here at seven thirty.

Good night When I got a call saying my water bill was past due, all I could think about was, “Oh no, my plant babies.” The guy told me I had to go make a payment at a crypto ATM in town.

Recognize fraud sooner with AARP so your money lives longer.

Crypto ATM.

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