The United States Attorney’s Office is working to educate the state’s eastern district about common scams targeting senior citizens, and representatives were in Tyler on Wednesday as part of the initiative.
Knowing how to recognize a scam is key to preventing these crimes, said U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and U.S. Secret Service agents gathered Wednesday morning at the Plaza Tower downtown to share some preventive tips that can help community members avoid falling victim to these types of scams.
“Although we prosecute dozens of scammers each year, there are hundreds, if not thousands more we never know about,” Featherston said. “Scammers are particularly skilled at tricking victims, often causing the victim to be embarrassed when they realize they have been duped and not report the crime. By educating our seniors we hope to spare them from this heartache. Preventing this crime is a lot easier than trying to investigate and get back the money.”
The presentation was given by Terry Gibson, Senior Special Agent for the U.S. Secret Service and Nathaniel Kummerfeld, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.
One of the first topics discussed was the Internet Crime Complaint Center or IC3, which is a division of the FBI concerning suspected criminal activity online. IC3 complaints are used to…
