RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – As part of a joint effort with the Attorney General’s Office, AARP South Dakota has been hitting the road in the last month, making stops in Sioux Falls, Aberdeen and now Rapid City.
The nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people 50 and older, gave a presentation Wednesday at the Hilton Garden Inn on fraud awareness and prevention.
“South Dakota unfortunately, like many parts of the country is targeted for frauds and scams. We’re a very trusting community, a very trusting state and unfortunately people take advantage of that.”
People in attendance were informed of the trends in fraudulent scams that the AARP and the Attorney General’s Office have been noticing lately.
“It’s becoming more and more prevalent is your cryptocurrency ATM scams. Most people don’t know what digital currency is but yet they’re willing to take their hard earn money and feed into an ATM that has crypto currency capabilities.”
Other trending crimes include grandparents scams where fraudsters pretend to be a grandchild or family member in distress and request money due to an emergency or accident.
Gillaspie says people need to think critically in those situations and should be aware that scammers are better than they ever have been.
“They’re very persistent and the minute you start asking questions, they in turn are coming back with the same thing.”
A volunteer for AARP South Dakota says he and his wife received a suspicious call the other day.
“He said that our Walmart account was overdrawn and I’m not sure what a Walmart account is but we don’t have one.”
Last year for consumer protection alone, Gillapsie says the Attorney General’s Office received 82,000 complaints or inquiries from people and businesses.
“We recouped approximately $7.9 million. Half of that was direct restitution to consumers.”
Gilaspie wants people to start being a little more savvy and asking questions before falling into a scammer’s trap.
She encourages people to report any suspicious fraudulent activity to the AG’s office at 1-800-300-1986 or local law enforcement.
