Even in the internet era, much financial fraud against seniors is local.
With that in mind, AARP’s Fraud Watch Network has created a scam-tracking map to help seniors see what types of fraud are prevalent near where they live and to make it easy to warn others when they have been approached by scamsters.
Click on a locality and reports of fraud pop up. The site also allows users to see all of the fraud alerts by law enforcement officials in their state.
Suspected scams detailed on the map include a robo call, supposedly from the U.S. Treasury Department, that threatened the consumer with jail time and fake techies who claimed to have spotted a problem in a would-be victim’s computer.
If people feel they have been the victim of a scam, they can use the site’s keyword search to see if others were victimized in the same way, said Kristin Keckelsen, director of the Fraud Watch Network Campaign.
The map allows individuals to report suspected scams directly to Fraud Watch.