DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — Officials in Swatara Township want to help protect senior citizens from online and phone scams as cases grow across the Commonwealth.
“We are heavily targeted. I can tell you that much. And the reason why is because we have a heavy senior population in Pennsylvania,” said Jerry Mitchell, an outreach specialist from the Office of the Attorney General.
To combat the issue and protect seniors, Swatara Township organized its first Senior Resource Fair, designed to connect seniors with legitimate resources.
“It really started with our police department and our district attorney’s office who already investigate crimes against our seniors. And what we saw is that there is a lot of information that just wasn’t getting out to the public to try and help prevent seniors from becoming victims,” said Brandon Pokrop, Corporal at Swatara Township Police Department.
Event organizers say seniors are vulnerable to phishing and other scams because they’re not always savvy with technology.
“They didn’t come from a world where they had to give up a lot of personal information, or were asked a lot of personal information, or engaged to this level,” Mitchell said.
“We’ve seen seniors getting taken advantage of over the phone, in person, but a lot of it seems to be taking place over the phone and the internet, unfortunately,” Pokrop explained.
Scammers will often claim to be calling from governmental agencies and asking for personal information, sometimes threatening their victims with legal consequences if they do not comply. This is meant to intimidate victims and increase the likelihood of compliance.
“Some of the things people will initially ask for are your telephone number, bank account information, or credit card information, but also when they start to ask you to send them payment in the form of gift cards,” Mitchell said.
Organizers say the overall purpose of Swatara’s Senior Resource Fair is to educate seniors and their families about potential scams and hopefully prevent any loss of finances or personal information.
“This is also a wonderful resource for them as well to help, not only themselves, but the person they are taking care of and try to avoid them from being a victim in the future,” Pokrop said.
A list of all the available resources is included below.
