A free seminar for senior citizens, sponsored by the Elder Abuse Prevention Council of Santa Barbara County, will explain the ins and outs of avoiding scams at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 7, 2016, at the Veterans Memorial Building in Solvang.

The seminar in Solvang will include a keynote presentation by Tracy Grossman, deputy district attorney of the County of Santa Barbara, and a panel including a local banker, law enforcement officer and Adult Protective Services staff. Additionally, the seminar will include a role playing skit.


“Senior citizens are a primary target of scammers,” said Grossman. “As a result, our district attorney has developed a program to provide fraud prevention, intervention and victim support.”

Financial scams often go unreported or can be difficult to prosecute, so they’re considered a low-risk crime. However, they’re devastating to many older adults and can leave them in a very vulnerable position with little time to recoup their losses.

“It is often said that financial scams targeting seniors have become so prevalent that they’re now considered “the crime of the 21st century,” stated Jim Talbott, president of the Area Agency on Aging board of directors. “Some speculate that seniors are thought to have a significant amount of money sitting in their accounts.”

It’s not just wealthy seniors who are targeted. Low-income older adults are also at risk of financial abuse, and it’s not always strangers who perpetrate these crimes.

Over 90 percent of all reported elder abuse is committed by an older person’s own family members, most often their adult children, followed by grandchildren, nieces and nephews and others.

Sponsors of the Senior Scam/Fraud Alert seminar include Santa Barbara County District Attorney, Area Agency on Aging, DASH (Doctors Assisting Seniors at Home), Union Bank Our Gang and the Elder Abuse Prevention Council of Santa Barbara County.

For more information about the Senior Scam/Fraud Alert seminar, contact the Area Agency on Aging at 805.925.9554 or 1.800.510.2020.

— Joyce Ellen Lippman represents the Central Coast Commission for Senior Citizens.