If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.
That and other advice to guard against identity theft was the topic of a community discussion Thursday open to the public at the Meen Center lecture hall on the Tusculum University campus.
Presenters included a First Horizon Bank fraud investigator and Tusculum Police Department Chief Danny Greene. The event was hosted by First Horizon Bank in partnership with the Tusculum Police Department.
The discussion had an emphasis on elder fraud. It and other types of identity theft are on the rise and becoming more sophisticated, presenters said.
Particularly in Tennessee, “We were all born and raised to trust people,” said Tony Ottinger, First Horizon Bank vice president, who introduced the presenters.
Alisha Monette is a First Horizon Bank corporate security risk investigator who handles cases related to elder fraud and financial exploitation.
Monette outlined different types of scams people fall victim to. There are numerous variations.
She explained elder fraud is when “a senior adult’s money or assets are used contrary to their wishes, needs or best interests, or for the abuser’s gain.”
Greene displayed statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice that identified more than 92,000 victims of elder fraud in 2021, resulting in a loss of $1.7 billion, a 74% increase over the previous year.
The…
