“AARP on Tap” - Fun Way to Learn Hard Lessons About Scams and Frauds

DAVID HAYFORD

Oftentimes there’s no shortcut to learning some of life’s hard lessons, but very few people, if any, would choose to learn the “hard way” the lessons that come from being targeted by cyber scammers or falling victim to fraudulent tactics. In the large, darkened back room of the Old Ox Brewery, in Ashburn, 40 AARP members learned some vital lessons about how to avoid frauds and scams the easy and fun way—through a trivia-style game complete with prizes and, of course, a cool drink in hand.

Dubbed “AARP on Tap,” the event was the first of its kind in Virginia, said Susan T. Jones, lead AARP volunteer coordinator in Loudoun County, who began organizing it months ago with AARP Virginia's Associate State Director Amber Sultane.

DAVID HAYFORD

In the often laughter-filled room, many attendees said they appreciated the educational and playful atmosphere the event offered.

“I’m very concerned with scams,” said Rosemary, an AARP member since 2002, “and I came here to gain more knowledge about how to protect myself.” Two of Rosemary’s friends agreed, adding that they also came to socialize with other local AARP members. Rosemary and others interviewed during the event asked that their last names not be used due to the fear of identity theft.

After a meet-and-greet happy hour, with the first drink hosted by AARP Virginia, the attendees were asked to separate themselves into different tables to accommodate teams with no more than five members each. AARP volunteer Paul Singh, who acted as quizmaster and facilitator of the two-round trivia game, opened the contest by explaining the game rules.

The teams were given 10 minutes each round to answer 10 multiple-choice questions, which mostly focused on information related to frauds and scams, like recognizing the amount of money consumers in the United States reported losing to scams and frauds in 2022 ($8.8 billion according to the Federal Trade Commission, up from $3.5 billion in 2020) and identifying the safest way to make online purchases (with credit cards due to their consumer protections, such as the Fair Credit Billing Act).

DAVID HAYFORD

Amusing questions were interspersed with the more serious questions. These included how many seeds an average strawberry contains (200, according to strawberryplants.org) and the significance of the Social Security Number 078-05-1120 (the most misused SSN of all time – due to being used as a sample card to help sell wallets beginning in 1938, according to https://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/misused.html).

Trudy Marotta, an AARP volunteer and AARP Virginia Community Ambassador, who served as the co-quizmaster, offered bonus information to several of the trivia questions’ answers, including recommending the use of a platform such as charitynavigator.org to confirm the legitimacy of a charity and details on how to improve online security, to include setting up two-step authentication for access to financial accounts.

The team named VAPS – using the first initial of its four team members -- won the first round of competition, and each received a gift bag that included the book, “Scam Me If You Can,” by Frank W. Abagnale Jr., partrayed in the 2002 movie “Catch Me If You Can,” and an AARP travel mug or picnic blanket. The second-round winners, “The Mathematicians,” a team made up of first-time-ever AARP event attendees, said they were going home with much more than a gift bag of goodies. The event was both fun and funny, as well as learning-filled and entertaining, said both David and Beverly, who enjoyed meeting new friends—including each other--and being reminded about the real possibility of being scammed and what to do about it.

Despite only eight people going home with the “big” prizes, no attendee left empty-handed as each received an AARP-branded bag full of resource materials related to keeping one’s money and identity safe in today’s world of rampant frauds and scams, such as the AARP Fraud Watch Network “Watchdog Alert Handbook,” A wallet card, and bookmarks with helpful fraud/scam protection tips.

Besides quizmasters Singh and Marotta, 10 other AARP volunteers helped with the event.

Find other fun and informative events: Upcoming AARP Virginia Events