On Monday, May 2nd, 2022, the yeg Seniors Alliance launched the Seniors Fraud Alert website! Created by seniors for seniors, this website is a way for older adults to spot and stop seniors scams
We were very fortunate to have a number of special guests help us with our launch! The Hon. Josephine Pon, Minister of Seniors & Housing welcomed everyone and as always showed support for our organization. Chief of Police Dale McFee was on hand to provide some good information to everyone in attendance and reminded us that “criminals are lazy” and if we work together we CAN prevent them from taking advantage of us.
Hon. Josephine Pon, Minster of Seniors & Housing
Edmonton Police Chief, Dale McFee
We had many seniors in attendance to learn about the Senior Fraud Alert Website and the Alberta Seniors Alliance.
Linda Ensley, Executive Director of the St Albert Seniors Association, and our Executive Director, Haidong Liang also used the event to announce that the yeg Seniors Alliance was being renamed to the Alberta Seniors Alliance and that the St Albert Seniors Association was now joining WSAC, Edmonton Seniors Centre, Drive Happiness and ICANSA Seniors Association as part of the alliance.
City of Edmonton Karhiio Ward Councillor, Keren Tang was also on hand to learn about the Senior Fraud Alert website and to find out how seniors in her ward could benefit from the information we are sharing.
ABOUT THE SENIOR FRAUD ALERT WEBSITE
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM
yeg Seniors Alliance Social Workers noticed seniors repeatedly being the victims of internet and phone fraud even after being educated about scams. After speaking with seniors who had experienced being defrauded on multiple occasions it became clear that the current fraud prevention resources were ineffective for seniors.
MAKING THE SOLUTION
Seniors needed a different approach to fraud prevention education. In order for it to be effective it needed to be:
- Written in plain language that was free from jargon and technical terms.
- In Small educational modules that provided simple solutions
- Positive and empowering rather than negative and fear-inducing.
Senior-driven focus groups gave feedback on every scam, script and quiz. The result is a senior-focused website that is written by seniors for seniors.
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