DES MOINES — AARP Iowa and state officials are going on a statewide “fraud watch” tour to educate older Iowans on how to spot and prevent scams that target seniors.
To a crowd of about 80 people in a Des Moines library, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and fraud experts with AARP Iowa and state agencies explained methods scammers use to steal money over the phone and by email or mail.
The most common scam that people report to the attorney general’s office is an imposter scam — scammers pose as relatives, romantic interests, and companies or government officials and convince the victim to send them money.
The amount of money lost to imposter scams can be as high as tens of thousands of dollars, Miller said, though others are between $500 and $1,000.
“There’s a great variety in what the scammers are looking for, but as I mentioned in the imposter area, generally, it’s the higher dollar amounts,” he said.
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