Scams & Fraud

AARP and Volunteers of America have developed a program to provide emotional support for people who fall prey to scam artists.

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 shredding events help you to stay one step ahead of identity thieves by shredding personal and financial documents. Please bring your documents in something easy to dump into the shred truck like boxes or paper bags. AARP Wyoming allows up to two large boxes to be dropped off per vehicle.

Fighting back against fraud and scams requires understanding how con artists think and operate.

Personal financial papers are gold to criminals looking to steal your identity or clean out your bank accounts.

Documents collected for tax season may be fodder for thieves seeking personal and financial information. Protect yourself by safely disposing of such paperwork at an AARP Louisiana shredding event.

According to federal data, identity theft in 2022 became the most prevalent form of fraud reported in Michigan, replacing impostor scams.

The number of Washington households with access to the internet is growing, but new users may not be ready for the Wild West that is the World Wide Web.

Help protect against identify theft by safely disposing of personal documents you no longer need at one of two AARP Iowa shredding events this month.