The city of Aurora is partnering with the FBI to offer a workshop coming up for seniors looking to reduce the risk of being scammed.
The “Empowering Seniors Against Scams” workshop will be held at two locations simultaneously on May 15, which is National Senior Fraud Awareness Day.
The free workshop is designed for “Aurora senior citizens, caregivers, family and service providers to provide the knowledge and tools required to recognize and avoid scams that threaten financial security,” according to a press release from the city.
Clayton Muhammad, chief communications and equity officer for the city of Aurora, said the workshop will focus on an important topic.
“This has been a topic we keep hearing more and more about and people have been watching stories about it on the news and asking how to prevent it,” he said of scams. “There has continued to be more reaching out about the issue from seniors who are looking to learn more about it.”
Muhammad said the workshop would not focus on detailed computer-related issues but rather ordinary phone calls “people are familiar with.”
“People get calls about credit cards and so forth and of course they are familiar with phones,” he said. “We’ve decided to hold this at two facilities in order to capture as many people as we can that are already there.”
Senior Services Associates, at 2111 Plum St., as well as Bardwell Residences, at 301 Weston Ave., will serve as the workshop sites.
Muhammad said that during this past weekend, the city “received more than 100 applications” for the workshop from people not living at either workshop site, which more than underscores the interest in the topic.
“We’re using these two facilities and these applications we received just over the weekend don’t include the people already living at these facilities so we know there is going to be a huge turnout,” he said. “If this continues, we may have to cut things off at some point but as of now, registration is still open.”
The workshop is free and open to the public. To register, call 630–256-3406, email boatrightk@aurora.il.us or go online to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/empowering-seniors-against-scams-workshop-tickets-886028564287?aff=oddtdtcreator
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
