How organizations in local communities are using the Pass It On materials.
Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] The goal of Pass It On is to prevent fraud from happening in the first place. Pass It On is a consumer education program that was developed by the Federal Trade Commission, and it is based on the idea that older consumers have a lifetime of experience that they can bring to bear in helping to prevent people from being victims of fraud. Our message is about what kinds of scams are out there, and how to avoid being a victim of the scams are something that older seniors can pass on to their friends, neighbors, and family members.
Our office has used the Pass It On program for several years. We've distributed it to thousands of people, helping the elderly become informed of the various pitfalls and scams out there. We've distributed kiosks in each Council on Aging and other community areas where this information, specifically Pass It On, is available to them. And I think it's critical because the only real beneficial way for the elderly is to prevent things from happening, because they are prey for the many scam artists that are out there.
When I went into the FDC see website, I saw there is this whole, national movement on just getting people educated on these scams. As a [INAUDIBLE] publication, we were approached by the Department of the Consumer Protection to work together on a project like this.
If we're suggesting to a person that they not be scammed, for some reason, they listen to it more clearly if it's told to them by a trusted source. When I think about articles that I can write for the Tribuna, I think about legal cases that we've had, folks that we've been pursuing who had been doing statewide scams.
What we learned with this whole Pass It On movement is that we needed to also have this edge to it that empower the reader to then pass the information on.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. Every group I go to, the hands are up, they're all talking how they at least have been attempted to be scammed, themselves, or friends have been victims.
We feel that for this partnership, we're able to do our job in providing vital information to our community.
All we can do is try to make people as smart as we can about consumer choices, and that's really what the Pass It On campaign is about.
We're hearing from community groups and others that there is a big demand for this, and it seems to really be successfully building on the idea that seniors can educate each other through their own social networks more effectively than through any other way.
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