AARP Virginia

If there is one constant in the criminal world it’s that scammers follow the news. Student loan forgiveness has been the focus of recent headlines, which has given scammers room for student-loan-related fraud.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, consumers reported losing $2.6 billion to impostor scams in 2022. One of the longest running impostor scams involves the IRS, so tax time is a good time to draw attention to it.

The numbers are in and 2022 was a doozy. While total reported scams to the Federal Trade Commission dropped by 1 million, the total reported amount lost grew by $2 billion for a total of $8.8 billion lost to scams and fraud. And this is just what’s reported – we know fraud is severely under-reported. Fueling the growth were dramatic increases in investment schemes and scams asking for cryptocurrency as a form of payment.

AARP Virginia is teaming up with the Virginia Museum of Transportation to host a special event celebrating Grandparents Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 19. The museum is located at 303 Norfolk Avenue SW in Roanoke.

In the early 1900s, the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, now called "Black Wall Street," was a vibrant and prosperous community. Despite the challenges and racial injustices they faced, residents of this community built a thriving neighborhood filled with successful Black-owned businesses, attorneys, doctors, and real estate agents. Their achievements were nothing short of remarkable and served as a beacon of hope for Black Americans nationwide.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) says the “explosion of scams” has prompted the state to ramp up its fraud-prevention education efforts.

The life and service of Carl Maxie Brashear, the U.S. Navy’s first Black deep sea diver, was the subject of the latest presentation of Virginia Treasures, sponsored by AARP Virginia.

“We can neither confirm nor deny the existence of those materials.” This well-known denial associated with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was first popularized during a remarkable Cold War event.

The first annual Black Family Health Expo was held on March 18 at the historic St. Philips Episcopal Church in Richmond. The event was sponsored by The Links Incorporated, an organization of African American women founded in 1946. Links members are devoted to strengthening African American communities through fund raising, education, advocacy and volunteering. It is the largest nationwide organization of Black women in the United States.

For many fraud victims, the financial toll is only part of the story; nearly two in three victims suffer a significant health or emotional impact, according to research by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.