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It's #OlderAmericansMonth and National Honor Our LGBTQ+ Elders Day Spotted a Scam? Talk about it. ftc.gov/PassItOn

Today is National Honor Our LGBTQ+ Elders Day. There are many ways to celebrate this important occasion, and the FTC is focusing on helping LGBTQ+ elders avoid frauds and scams. In fact, talking about scams is one way to do that. A 2019 study found that people who knew about a specific scam were less likely to lose money when targeted by that scam. So, what can you do next to get the conversation started?

Here are some ways to pitch in, today and every day.

Join a webinar today on Financial Wellness & Older LGBTQ+ People at 2pm ET. You’ll hear about how to spot and avoid common scams, along with tools to help LGBTQ+ elders fight fraud.

Reach out to a friend. Maybe they keep getting calls from companies like “Amazon” telling them to confirm their account details. Let them know those calls are from scammers trying to steal money or information. And they’re often successful: in 2022, people reported losing $660 million to business impersonators.

Remind your friends that if they spot a scam, the FTC wants to hear about it — at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Every report helps thousands of law enforcement partners go after companies committing fraud, scams, and bad business practices that hurt everyone — including the LGBTQ+ elder community.

It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

Farmer Brown
May 16, 2023

I cannot support this lgbtq sexual movement and neither should a government agency be supporting them also.
I will be unsubscribing from your emails.

Barbara Namon
May 17, 2023

In reply to by Farmer Brown

Dear Farmer Brown,
Our Government supports all of its citizens. No citizen, regardless of disability, age, race, religion or sex shall be excluded from that support.
Respectfully,
BN

Shirley oller
June 20, 2023

In reply to by Barbara Namon

Thanks for letting people know that we all count

Zach
May 16, 2023

I am not LBGTQ but I am a senior citizen. Why are the two lumped together.

Patsy
May 17, 2023

In reply to by Zach

Thank you Zach, as I came to the page to find out that same information!

Perry Shelton
May 16, 2023

I am among the elderly and I don’t want to be grouped with LGBTQ+. I’m not related to that group in any way.

Tommie Torres
May 16, 2023

Dear Ari Lazarus: Thank you, so much, for this information. It is so helpful and I certainly appreciate it very much. I welcome this very useful type of communication from such an important government post. Keep up the good work.

tommie

Grams
May 19, 2023

I’m an elderly B woman and I don’t know of any + elderly. Neither does my 75 year old L woman whom I care for. This is why this whole “new” agenda to push recognition is being denounced by the original equal rights fighters for the LGB community. We want no part of this!

Joe Huebner
May 16, 2023

Thank you, so very much for being a source to report suspected scams, fraud and impersonators to get our personal information and money!

Pat Kosinar
May 16, 2023

I am very happy to see the FTC celebrating this day.

Patsy Swinson
May 16, 2023

How is this a "consumer alert"? A celebration is not an "alert".

bigdoggie
June 21, 2023

Are you srious...You want money to celebrate a persons sexual preference. To me that is a personal choice...not a nationality! I am a straight black male and when are we going to celebrate my sexual preference????

Linda Corbin
May 16, 2023

I get a whole bunch of unidentifiable messages daily, I just delete them. It's the scammers online I have to watch.. Romance scammers they're called..

Jerry Bares
May 16, 2023

This is supposed to be a Consumer Site, Do not want to hear about LGBTQ items. I don't know how this is a FTC topic?

Joanna Brown
May 16, 2023

Thank you, staff at the FTC, for reaching out to the LGBTQ+ community with messages about how to avoid being scammed.

Even mentioning the LGBTQ+ community (my community) by name is important to me. Too often, large agencies neglect to do outreach to specific communities, assuming that everyone should feel included without mentioning specific groups by name. Thank you, FTC, for your efforts to intentionally include LGBTQ+ persons in your anti-scam information programs. What you do makes a positive difference!

Diane Chadwick
May 17, 2023

Did the FTC decide this is LTGBQ + elders day / month? I like the way whoever decided this day/month slipped in ‘the elders’ to deflect from the high controversial topic of LTBGQ to your Christian citizens of the United States.

Highlighting non-Christian values is not what what government agencies are for. The FTC should remain neutral.

Your narratives should be to the addressed to the public at large & not singling out a specific group to help.

Tammy Lynn Murray
May 19, 2023

I live and work in the Lancaster/Baltimore, Ohio area. Seniors no matter their sexual preference and underserved especially women who were never married and on Social Security. I see women who worked outside the home their whole lives and because they weren't deemed marriage material or pretty enough, they didn't marry. Now they suffer with small SS checks denied food stamps, high rents and living in cars and low rent hovels trying to live. They die young of preventable diseases because they are over-looked. Their male cohorts live much better with larger checks and more opportunity. The ERA hasn't passed in 100 years and it shows.

Cheryl
May 16, 2023

I am 83....WHY is my day of honor being combined with the LGBTQ+ group? They can believe as they choose but I choose not to be honored this way and find it to be a poor combination.

Landif Foret
May 16, 2023

Why not include all elders instead of dividing society? We all live life together and are faced with similar scams and trials. As a tax-funded agency, there should be no such division supported, and most certainly NOT advertised!

LF

Enrique Rodriguez
May 17, 2023

Thanks, for all the support, I’m very happy…

Leo Chiu
May 17, 2023

Those knuckleheads can scam me if they can. But, I know what to do! 🌈🌈

Marieolas
May 17, 2023

Elderly and NO adjectives are needed!!!

Hellen
May 17, 2023

Hello