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 Iowans report 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.
A March report from caller ID app Truecaller found the average reported loss by people who fell victim to phone scams was $577 in the last year, up from $502 the year before.
Other common scams include fake media subscriptions, home goods or services, fraudulent home improvement offers, and offers to get someone out of a timeshare, Miller said.
The number of Americans who have fallen victim to scam calls has increased every year since 2017, according to the…
