LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More than 140 million adults have been victims of fraud, according to an American Association of Retired Persons Fraud Watch Network report.

What You Need To Know

  • Millions of adults across the U.S. have been victims of fraud 

  • AARP Kentucky held its Summer Scam Jam June 5 in Louisville to share tips on identifying scams

  • One simple way to avoid scams, the AARP said, is to avoid phone calls from unknown sources

  • AARP Kentucky will host another Summer Scam Jam June 20 in Lexington

AARP Kentucky held its Summer Scam Jam June 5 in Louisville to share tips on identifying scams. Among those sharing their story of dealing with a scam was Patricia Kaster, who in March 2023 received a call from someone who claimed to be the fraud department of Stock Yard Bank and the Federal Trade Commission

“One of the first things he told me was I had been accused of money laundering and that I would have to sell all of my assets,” Kaster said.

She said she felt scared of the accusation, so she took her money out of the bank and put it into bitcoin, like the scammer asked.

“He had indicated that if (I was) selling  … all of my investment they were going to like, put it in like a lockbox with the department of treasury, and I would get everything back,” she said.

The people who she thought were the Federal Trade Commission then told her to sell house.

“I said, 'I’m not selling my house,' and he somehow convinced me to sell my house,” Kaster said.

The scammers told her they were going to call her with a trial date so she could prove her innocence. But that day never came.

“I never heard from him again, and I realized, 'Oh, my god; I’ve been scammed,'” Kaster said.

She said she lost about $1.7 million in assets and was left with nothing.

Kaster is not alone. The FTC said consumers reported losing $10 billion due to fraud in 2023. The AARP held its Summer Scam Jam to prevent this from happening to others.

“If it's something that is not a scam, they're not going to ask for money or information upfront because you don't know who you're dealing with when you're dealing with a phone call,” said Gary Adkins, volunteer state president for AARP Kentucky.

Adkins said if it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not true.

“With phone calls, if you don’t know who it is, you probably should not answer the phone … another way is that refusal script because if you have a way of hanging up that’s the simplest way of doing it,” Adkins said.

AARP Kentucky will host another Summer Scam Jam June 20 in Lexington. 

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