When disaster strikes, everyone in the community is impacted — including older adults. That’s why having a plan and knowing how to spot disaster-related scams can make a difference to anyone recovering. If you’re not sure where to begin, there are free tools to help you get started on a plan that includes fraud prevention. (ReadContinue reading “How to prepare yourself to deal with an emergency and avoid disaster-related scams”
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Got a New Online Friend? Be Wary
Romance scams have been a reliable source of income for digital criminals for years. But a new, more subtle variation of that fraud is seeing an uptick. Instead of seducing vulnerable people online with promises of romance, some scammers are creating a (false) bond with victims by convincing them they share a common interest, according toContinue reading “Got a New Online Friend? Be Wary”
Update: Pair Sentenced in Hospice Scheme
In an update to a December 19, 2024, story, Nita Almuete Paddit Palma was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison and ordered to pay almost $8.3 million in restitution. Percy Dean Abrams was sentenced to three years of probation. Read a Department of Justice press release. Nita Palma and Percy Abrams have been found guiltyContinue reading “Update: Pair Sentenced in Hospice Scheme”
How to spot a job scam
Every day, people you know are seeing phony business opportunities, work-at-home scams, shady employment agencies, and scammy multi-level marketing schemes. Job seekers don’t have the time or resources to waste on fake opportunities, but there are some ways to spot these scams. Watch this video as FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson explains. (Read More)
Update: Home Health Agency Owner Sentenced
In an update to a June 20, 2025, story, Paul Njoku has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison. Read a Department of Justice press release. Paul Njoku, owner of home health care agency Opnet Health Care Services Inc., doing business as P & P Health Care Services, was convicted for leading aContinue reading “Update: Home Health Agency Owner Sentenced”
AARP’s ‘Fraud Wars’ Episode 1: Judith Boivin Had $600,000 Stolen in an FBI Impostor Scam
By the time the scammers posing as law enforcement called Judith Boivin’s cellphone, they had researched their target well. They knew she’d worked as a registered nurse and a clinical social worker before becoming a licensed therapist. They knew she had worked in Belize to help children with HIV and had lived for three yearsContinue reading “AARP’s ‘Fraud Wars’ Episode 1: Judith Boivin Had $600,000 Stolen in an FBI Impostor Scam “
Nurse Convicted of Fraud Scheme
Nurse practitioner Scharmaine Lawson Baker was convicted for her role in an over $12.1 million health care fraud scheme to defraud Medicare by ordering medically unnecessary cancer genetic tests for hundreds of patients she never met or examined. She falsely diagnosed patients to justify the unnecessary tests, such as diagnosing male patients with cervical cancer.Continue reading “Nurse Convicted of Fraud Scheme”
Before you donate, find out where the money is going
Would you donate to a cause if the fundraiser lied about how the money would be spent? Probably not. But that’s what the FTC says Kars-R-Us.com, Inc. (“Kars”) did when it collected vehicle donations on behalf of a supposed breast cancer charity. (Read More)
CVS Omnicare Ordered to Pay $949 Million
A federal judge has ordered CVS Omnicare to pay $949 million. Allegations say that Omnicare dispensed drugs not supported by valid prescriptions to individuals in 3,000 long-term residential facilities and charged Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for those drugs. Prescriptions were automatically assigned new prescription numbers, refills were automatically authorized, and prescriptions were periodically refilled inContinue reading “CVS Omnicare Ordered to Pay $949 Million”
How to help protect foster youth from identity theft
Identity theft can happen to anyone, including kids in foster care. But minors typically don’t have credit reports, so they might not even realize they’ve experienced identity theft until they apply for a job, housing, or credit. Because foster youth often move more often and more people have access to their info, they’re at greaterContinue reading “How to help protect foster youth from identity theft “
The Virginia SMP 