RICHARD SAUNDERS - AARP
Last Thursday, the Club welcomed RICHARD SAUNDERS, from the AAPR PA. CONSUMER TASK FORCE, who delivered a very timely discussion on the many forms of scams, fraud, and other illegal activities that have become so prevalent in our present-day on-line environment.
He stated that his aim is to educate people so they can avoid scams and not necessarily how to get restitution. His two main steps in protecting yourself, and safeguarding your wealth are: watch out- keep an close eye on your accounts, and carefully review all documents before signing anything. Look for small changes in your accounts and if you see even small charges, be an aggressive consumer and pursue questionable entries.
Richard warned us to be aware of phishing expirations where scammer try to get critical info from us by either getting us to call them, or getting us to click on links that directly lead to their software. Check out email addresses and phone numbers before acknowledging them. He warned about "jugging" where criminals follow ATM users and rob them after they withdraw funds. He suggests using indoor ATMs.
He warned us to never put our social security numbers on any forms, as even medical forms should not be requesting them.
A few other points he gave us were: if relatives travel much, set up a code word to verify identity if calls come in demanding money; use credit cards instead of debit cards on-line; and try to use gift cards from the main source instead of off the rack cards.
Thank you ,Richard for this informative talk.