Georgia Attorney General Carr warns senior citizens to protect themselves from common scams

ATLANTA – In recognition of Older Americans Month, Attorney General Chris Carr is encouraging older consumers to protect themselves from fraudsters by becoming familiar with common scams and scam tactics.

“We are proud to celebrate Older Americans Month and pay tribute to the achievements, sacrifices and innovations of our older Georgians,” said Attorney General Chris Carr. “We must also do all we can to protect those who are most vulnerable. As con artists invent new ways to perpetrate crimes, our office wants to take this time to urge all Georgians to avoid and report scams that target our older adult demographic.”

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division offers the following resources to help older consumers avoid scams:

• In cooperation with the BBB and FTC, we have posted the following videos to help protect all Georgians from Covid-related scams:
  • Stimulus Payments and Government Grants
  • Employment Scams
  • Phone Calls
  • Coronavirus Cures
  • Price Gouging

You can view the videos here and find more Covid-related scam information here.

• All this month we will be highlighting our Ask Consumer Ed columns that focus on issues older adults face.

• Our office published the Georgia Consumer Protection Guide for Older Adults which is available to consumers in a variety of formats – including web-based and hard copy. The guide includes an array of topics of importance to seniors, including scams, identity theft, credit and debt, reverse mortgages, charitable giving, home repairs, funerals, advance directives, long-term care, elder abuse and more. Consumers can contact our office to request a hard copy of the guide in English or Spanish. The web-based version has clickable links and can be translated into many languages via the Google Translate function.