finally tonight Helping Seniors from falling victim to fraud a recent AARP survey found roughly 42% of American adults say they've personally experienced being scammed and tricked some lost thousands of dollars others their life savings the AARP New Jersey chapter recently launched a fraud prevention Summit to teach older adults how to spot a scam and other forms of abuse Raven Santana reports my grandson was only 2 years old I got a phone call saying Grandma um I'm in trouble I need money and this and that my grandson's two years old he's he's in the crib home so anyway I said well which grandson is this I have two nephews Michael he said Michael and then uh I said which Michael he says Michael Jordan bridgew resident Mary Jane ronsky says 13 years ago she almost fell victim to the grandparents scam where the caller claims to be a grandchild and a worried grandparent rushes to help usually by sending money one sent the money is gone today she was tested again in fact when we when somebody was talking up here I got a scam phone call it just it just lit up my phone it said scam ronsky was one of more than 250 people that attended an AARP fraud prevention Summit at the Pines Banner in Edison according to the AARP over a third or approximately 12.2 million people are vulner vulnerable to theft by responding to calls texts and even friend requests and even the experts can be targeted you don't realize it until you're in the middle of it and it's like you think you know how to do it cuz I come from it right and so I'm up on these technologies that Kathy folks had just spoken about and yet I felt prey to it and caught me by surprise even five years ago if I would have asked people were just like that's not going to happen to me I know what I'm doing we just did a survey in April and nine in 10 people now fear that it will happen to them director of fraud prevention programs for the AARP Kathy Stokes says there's a misconception that older people are most vulnerable everybody is susceptible to fraud the technology the ability of these criminal uh trans transnational criminal Enterprises to Target us specifically is unlike any other time in our society and if you look at data from the Federal Trade Commission they will tell you that younger adults report fraud losses more often than the older adult but here's the big vulnerability as an older adult you have wealth even if you don't think you have wealth you've got a monthly social security check maybe a pension maybe life insurance proceeds heck you have the 401K you have housing wealth and the criminals know that and they're collecting information and they're making lead lists based on age because they know that's where the money is the free event provided a variety of panels where experts share tips tools and their own personal experiences of dealing with fraud including attorney general Matt platkin the AG highlighted the four top ways to know that something's a scam the first scammers pretend to be from an organization that you know or that you utilize next they create a sense that there's a problem or a prize to be had then they pressure you to act quickly and then finally they they put further pressure on you to pay in a specific way a very specific way AARP says they're now on the watch for an uptick in fraud around election time and say it's important to remember that only ways that you can register to vote in the state of New Jersey is uh one by mail um you can go online and register to vote or you can go to your local election office you cannot register to vote by phone or Tex or email experts stress that if you think you have been targeted by a scam or have fallen victim to a scam always report it they warn that if you're not diligent the scam can lead to more money lost even hours after the scam has occurred forj Spotlight news I'm Raven Santana [Music]