Beshear Partnering With Kentucky Bankers Association To Stop Senior Scams

Attorney General Andy Beshear and the Kentucky Bankers Association (KBA) are teaming up to protect seniors statewide from financial exploitation by scam artists.

This is the latest in a series of partnerships Beshear has announced aimed at preventing scams targeting seniors. His office most recently announced a partnership with Kentucky’s faith-based community to help educate its senior ministries and the communities they serve on potential scams.

Through the KBA collaboration, Beshear’s office will work with member banks to host scam events across the state. Beshear’s office presented scam prevention information at KBA’s spring conference earlier this month. The AG’s Office of Senior Protection will present at the upcoming Owensboro Rotary Club on May 31 with South Central Bank in Daviess County; and will hold an upcoming training for bank tellers on the warning signs of scammers and financial elder abuse.

“Banks are an important line of defense in protecting seniors who may be in the process of falling for a scam and are requesting to withdraw large sums of money from their life savings at a bank,” Beshear said. “Now having bank employees on the front lines helping us monitor and prevent scams in their communities is monumental. I cannot think the KBA enough for its partnership with my office.”

“Senior Kentuckians are the bedrock of our communities,” said Ballard Cassady, president/CEO of KBA. “We are pleased to work with the Kentucky Attorney General to provide Kentuckians with the tools they need to prevent bad actors from taking advantage.”

“It is a privilege to bring this information to the Owensboro Rotary Club,” said David Fort, president/CEO of South Central Bank of Daviess County. “Seniors are a part of America’s Greatest Generation and through this program, we will help them guard against potential losses from those who will do them harm.”

Beshear is working to bring new solutions and ideas to address scams because of the severe harm they are having on Kentucky families. More than 3 million consumers were conned out of $765 million across the country in 2015. Seniors nationwide lose nearly $37 billion a year to elder financial exploitation.

To date, more than 100 nonprofit and retail organizations have joined Beshear’s initiative as a Scam Alerts partner, including Kroger, AARP of Kentucky, the Kentucky Council of Churches, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, the Better Business Bureau and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

To protect seniors, Beshear launched Scam Alerts last year as the state’s first direct messaging service that notifies Kentuckians of financial schemes by con artists attempting to steal a person’s money or identification.

Kentuckians may sign up for Scam Alerts by texting the words KYOAG Scam to GOV311 (468311), or enroll online at ag.ky.gov/scams and select text message or email alert.