The theme of this month’s Bar Bulletin is “the autumn of life” and the issues that seniors face during this time. Scams and fraudulent schemes are encountered in every life stage, but some seniors seem especially prone to falling for these ploys. While many of these are perpetuated via mail or telephone, more and more are being disseminated via the Internet. And as more seniors are using the Internet, more are being taken in by them.

Therefore, this month my web column is focusing on the best web sites for finding out about these schemes. The federal government has some excellent web sites to help you and the seniors you represent find out how to recognize and avoid these scams.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a web page on common fraud schemes with tips on avoiding them. In addition, the page includes fraud alerts on new schemes. For instance, a recent news release highlighted a jury duty telephone scam. Read more about this and other scams at: http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/fraudschemes.htm.

The FBI also has a web page devoted to Internet schemes at: http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm.  The list of scams includes Internet auction fraud, credit card fraud, non-delivery of merchandise, and the “classic” – Nigerian letter scam. This page links to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which is a partnership between the (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), at: http://www.ic3.gov/. This site includes a guide to filing a complaint and some great Internet crime prevention tips. For instance, the tips on Phishing/Spoofing include:

• Be suspicious of any unsolicited email requesting personal information.
• Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal information.
• Always compare the link in the email to the link that you are actually directed to.
• Log on to the official website, instead of "linking" to it from an unsolicited email.
• Contact the actual business that supposedly sent the email to verify if the email is genuine.

The Federal Trade Commission has the best web site for general consumer information with links to Consumer Protection Information at: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htm.

When you choose the link to E-Commerce and the Internet at:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menu-internet.htm, you will find other special government web sites to help with ID Theft, Spam and Online Shopping Information, Phishing scams, Spyware and more.

 For example, OnGuard Online at http://onguardonline.gov/index.html is a terrific site with information on spam scams such as weight-loss miracle claims to notices that you won a foreign lottery.

Another link takes you to Spyware Home at http://www.ftc.gov/spyware and another to the ID Theft Home at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/.

Organizations such as the National Consumers League, maintains a web site on fraud called the National Fraud Information Center at: http://www.fraud.org/welcome.htm.

Nearly every state has some sort of guide to frauds and scams – directed at seniors. For instance, the Minnesota Attorney General has a guide located at: http://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/seniors/Seniors_GFF.htm.

Our State Attorney General’s Office has two separate portions of their web site with guidance for consumers on con games and frauds. First, General Information for Protecting Seniors at: http://www.atg.wa.gov/seniors/, includes information on multiple activities that target seniors. This part of the web page links to the Safety Net portion at: http://www.atg.wa.gov/safetynet/consumers1.shtml, which is a guide to safely surfing the net.