EDITORIAL: Protect our elderly from fraud

May 4—When the Oklahoma Insurance Department hosts their annual Hoodwinked Fraud Conference, we hope a lot of our local senior citizens take part in the webinar series.

Unfortunately, senior citizens have become easy targets — many are so trusting. They grew up in a time when honesty meant something to most people. What they don't realize is that things are much different today. It's easy to find information about people online. And, there are so many different kinds of scams going on, even people who are not elderly can be tricked by some of the callers.

The Hoodwinked Fraud Conference will offer various fraud-related webinar sessions, from Medicare and health care fraud to Social Security scams, relationship scams, cyber scams, investment, banking fraud, and securities fraud.

The Hoodwinked Fraud Conference will educate Oklahomans on the latest white-collar crimes and provide tips for staying safe. It's a virtual event that will consist of seven educational webinars led by speakers with diverse areas of expertise such as state agency directors, Medicare professionals, and individuals from the fraud prevention fields. This year, the Oklahoma Social Security Administration is joining for the first time, as Social Security fraud is on the rise. According to SSA Public Affairs Specialist Jose Olivero, they receive over 35,000 telephone scams reported monthly.

If you know someone who is elderly but who is not tech savvy, find a way for them to watch the webinars with you. That way, you can explain things that the elderly may not be familiar with and save them some heartache and embarrassment. Some who are deceived won't make a police report because of the embarrassment of being a victim. We should look after and protect our elders from the vicious thieves on the other end of the phone.

What to do

Registration is open online for the annual Hoodwinked Fraud Conference at www. oid.ok.gov. For speaker information and updates about the conference, visit www.oid.ok.gov/consumers/ events/hoodwinked.

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