AARP Pennsylvania

A staggering rise in fraudulent activities targeting veterans and service members has prompted AARP Pennsylvania to take a proactive stance against these scams. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), scams aimed at ex-service members resulted in a shocking $267 million loss in 2021, marking a staggering 162 percent increase from the previous year. To combat this alarming trend, AARP Pennsylvania is launching a comprehensive awareness campaign to help veterans and their families safeguard their financial well-being.

The Pennsylvania Department of Aging and Area Agencies on Aging are developing a 10-year Master Plan for Older Adults, hoping to guide policymakers on ways to ensure older Pennsylvanians and those with disabilities get the support they need. Exorbitant rents, transportation troubles and a shortage of home care workers are among the issues the plan will address.

AARP’s new Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Scorecard finds that more than three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, care provided in the United States for older adults and people with disabilities is painfully inadequate. The report finds that major gaps persist in every state, including Pennsylvania, especially related to providing support for family caregivers, affordability and access, and the safety and quality of long-term services and supports.

AARP and Blue Star Families will host a free, virtual event to help veterans and military spouses leverage upskilling and technology to accelerate their careers and find flexible or remote career paths.

This October is National Cyber Security month and AARP is focused on shining a light on the most prevalent online scams including celebrity impostors. Stars like Bruce Springsteen, Trace Adkins and Oprah Winfrey are among thousands of celebrities whose personas have been used by scammers online to solicit money from fans.

When it comes to the labor market, the supply of jobs is outpacing demand but that doesn’t mean that employment scams have gone away. Just because there are more job openings than job seekers doesn’t mean that criminals have closed up shop. With many Americans looking for a side hustle to help make ends meet or an opportunity to make more money or work remotely, there are still enough potential victims to fuel these schemes.

Within the next 10 years, Social Security could be cut by as much as 20 percent. Social Security isn’t free. We’ve earned it after a lifetime of hard work. It’s the largest source of retirement income for most Americans – including over two million retired Pennsylvanians - - helping them to put food on the table, pay utility bills, and put gas in the tank.

Some of the top scams are the ones that have been around the longest. One might think that a crime like the tech support scam, which has been around for 15 years, might fade away but it is more common than ever. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, the tech support scam was reported by nearly 18,000 victims who had a combined $588 million stolen from them last year.

Last month Medicare announced that one of their contractors had been hacked and the personal information of 612,000 Medicare beneficiaries were stolen. The security breach put Social Security numbers, birth dates, driver’s license numbers, health insurance claims, medical history notes, prescription information and other personally identifiable information at risk.

Philadelphia’s Center in the Park, a social and assistance hub for older adults, has transformed an office space that was no longer needed into a new gathering spot.