Senior Citizens are often targets of scammers. A new program at the Ohio Attorney General’s office is meant to help prevent older Ohioans from losing money in scams. Ryan Lippe of the Ohio Attorney General’s office tells Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles special kits are being distributed statewide.
Lippe – We are actually delivering mailings to hundreds of branch libraries and main libraries all across the buckeye state. We are doing this as part of our SAFE program. That stands for Senior Advocate Fraud Education. And what we are trying to do is spread the message of how to steer clear from elder abuse, elder fraud, senior scams or any kind of scam in the community that is targeting those of an older age.
Ingles - Is that really a problem and how will this kit make it easier for seniors to avoid problems?
Lippe – Senior scams are a huge problem in Ohio. We see home after home of elderly folks who get caught in the trap of seeing a sweepstakes scam or getting in the middle of a home improvement scam. So this kit will be available to libraries so that people who are caretakers, seniors themselves, people who deal with them at the bank or the bakery, all kinds of folks around town will be aware of scams and what the warning signs are that a senior might be involved in becoming a victim of a scam.
Ingles - How many of these kits are you putting out there and what’s the cost?
Lippe – Well we’ve got about 2400 kits we are putting out there. We are doing three kits per library branch throughout the state of Ohio. And it really is coming from funds from a Sears settlement from years ago. There was a settlement and our attorney general’s office was involved with that so each year, we devise a program to try to get some of those funds to come to Ohio from that grant that Ohio was awarded.
Ingles – How many cases of senior scamming do you see per year in this office?
Lippe – Well, I don’t know about senior scams total but in terms of the call volume, in terms of the complaints we get in the consumer protection section – 26500 just in 2013. And in fact, that wasn’t even the banner year. We’ve had over 30000 complaints in years past of scams or just consumer protection issues, complaints with a company, (…..those types of issues.)
Ryan Lippe of the Ohio Attorney General’s office says the kits are being assembled now and will be mailed out within days.
