ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
In today’s digital age, scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, making it crucial to stay vigilant and informed.
As part of June’s Business Over Breakfast hosted by Seward County Community College Business and Industry, Kayla Kent with Golden Plains Credit Union will help participants explore common scams targeting individuals and businesses, discuss red flags to watch out for and provide practical tips and strategies to safeguard themselves against falling victim to scams.
Kent said the idea for the session entitled “Scram! Scams!” which will take place June 26, in Room SU214 E/W in the SCCC Student Union, came about because of influx of fraud and compromised cards she and others were seeing at GPCU.
“It hit back to back to back,” she said. “I was talking to a member and was giving her tips we see every day, and she was like, ‘You should do a class.’ So we’re doing a class.”
Kent said one of the latest scams involves the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
“You get a call that your bank account was compromised saying you need to move all of your money into a six-year Bitcoin wallet,” she said. “They tell you what wallet to put it in, and that money’s gone when you put it in there. We can’t get it back. There’s no way to trace where it went. It’s gone.”
Other common scams involve someone calling individuals saying they are from a law enforcement agency such as a sheriff’s or police department and saying they have a warrant out for their arrest. Another familiar fraud has callers pretending to be from a utility company saying services will be cut off if they do not pay their bill. Kent did have explanations why some scammers targeted certain people, but she said others are not so easy to explain.
“The Bitcoin, they’re targeting younger members because they understand a little bit about Bitcoin,” she said. “They know what it is. If you’re talking the phone call scams, that’s more the older members. I’m not sure why they’re targeted more or if they’re just falling for it easier or if it’s they answer the phone. A lot of people will answer they’re phone, but they don’t know the number.”
Still other scams involve a phone call from a person pretending to be a relative of the person saying they were in an accident, and they need to pay money before a doctor will see them. Another common scheme has the caller, again pretending to be a relative, but this time saying they are in jail.
“We see a lot of that,” Kent said.
Kent added she gave a recent presentation similar to the upcoming Scram! Scams! at the Liberal Senior Center with a decent turnout, and she said two audience members had mentioned they got phone calls saying the man on the phone was their grandson, was in jail and needed help.
“Out of the group of people in Liberal, if you have two that had the same interaction like that, how many more people are getting that same phone call?” she said.
Kent said seasoned professionals and those just starting out need to take part in the upcoming session, and she said Scram! Scams! will equip everyone with the knowledge and tools to protect themselves and their organizations from fraudulent activities.
Kent said even she has been subject to a recent scam.
“I got a message the other day. I ordered some stuff online, and I got a message that the address was wrong,” she said. “It had me click on the link, and it wanted me to pay two cents for every processing fee, and I knew that wasn’t right.”
Kent said she checked the site after seeing it said USPZ instead of USPS for the U.S. Postal Service, she knew the link was a false one.
“I could’ve put in my card number,” she said. “They could’ve taken it, done who knows what and taken all of my money.”
Kent said no one should miss this opportunity to learn how to outsmart scammers and safeguard finances and personal information.
“If you’re not extremely cautious, I would definitely take something like this to see what to be on the lookout for, what kind of flags to look for,” she said. “We’re not doing this to try to scare anyone or give unnecessary worry, but people need to be cautious, especially in this economy where you don’t have a lot of money to begin with.”
Kent said she is hoping create an awareness about what to look for and to be more cautious about their information.
“We hope people will show up to this kind of class,” she said. Even if they don’t show up for the class, if they still want information or if they have questions about I received this text or I got this phone call, they’re always welcome to come in here. We can sit and visit with them and let them know, ‘Yes that’s probably a scam,’ or ‘No that could be legitimate,’ dig more into it.”
June’s Business Over Breakfast will start at 7:30 a.m. June 26. Registration is $15. The deadline to register is 4 p.m. June 24. To register or for more information, call SCCC Business and Industry at 620-417-1170.
