Attorney General Suthers Details Scam Prevention for Seniors

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers

The elderly have always been the prime prey for personal or business scams, and with the advent of the internet and identify theft, protecting them from potential harm has become more difficult. 

Colorado Attorney John Suthers is taking steps to help prevent senior citizens from being easy pickings when it comes to exploitation of our senior citizens.  Suthers is traveling throughout the state, holding seminars to help educate our seniors about the ways in which they can become unsuspecting victims and ways to identify scams before they occur.  Suthers was in Las Animas and La Junta on Tuesday, August 7 and spent Wednesday speaking to groups in Lamar and Eads.  Carolyn Tyler, Suther’s communication director said he’s been dividing the state into quarters, and dividing his time in key communities explaining how his department is helping combat various scams. 

Suthers, Addressing Gathering at Lamar SOS Center

During lunchtime meeting at the SOS Center on East Olive Street in Lamar, Suthers distributed information pamphlets which outlined preventative steps to curtail junk mail through the post office or internet and how to register for the State No-Call list.  Several booklets issued by the AARP were also handed out detailing some of the most recent scams so seniors can get a ‘head’s up’ on how they function before they’re contacted.  Some included sweepstakes companies asking for money transfers before you can claim a prize; unasked for mail offering discounts on expensive items; offers on credit cards where you have to make a money transfer before you get the loan or card; calls from fake police or distant relatives saying they’re in trouble and need money to help them out, help wanted ads that ask for money up front to pay for uniforms, calls claiming you’re in trouble with the police for not acting on jury duty and you can wire in your fine to avoid prosecution.  Another pamphlet put together by Suthers details the steps needed to repair your credit and re-establish your own identity if a person has been the victim of identity theft. 

The meeting was attended by several dozen senior citizens from Lamar and the county as well as County Commissioners Joe Marble and Henry Schnabel, local District Attorney Jennifer Swanson, County Sheriff Jim Faull and County Assessor Andy Wyatt.

By Russ Baldwin