Fighting fraud: Free fraud awareness workshops planned in Somerset County
October is Fraud Awareness Month in Somerset County
SKOWHEGAN, Maine (WABI) - Each year, Mainers lose millions of dollars to fraud.
Those often targeted are older adults.
According to data from the FBI, more than 600 people in Maine lost nearly $13 million to elder fraud last year.
“Elder fraud is a growing problem and a shameful crime,” said Kimberly Milka, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division. “Not only does it rob an already vulnerable population of their sense of security, but it leaves them with devastating financial losses.”
While anyone at any age can fall prey to scams, experts say larger sums of money are stolen from older adults who have more to lose.
“Some of our older citizens lose their retirements from it because they’re trying to help somebody or someone in their family, and it’s actually a scam,” said Skowhegan Police Chief, David Bucknam.
Somerset Economic Development wants to ‘Bridge the Digital Divide" in the county.
They’re partnering with AARP and Somerset County law enforcement to host free one-hour fraud awareness workshops.
They’ll include a presentation on some of the most common scams.
Bucknam says scams involving crowdfunding are ones they see often.
“GoFundMe pages are big scams. A lot of them are big scams, and I would highly recommend that if you don’t know who the person is that this GoFundMe page is for then don’t contribute to it because people just set them up, take your money, and they disappear,” he explained.
The workshops will also cover how to identify these threats and where to go for help.
“This is a problem that happens more regularly than any of us realize,” said Representative Liz Caruso, Somerset County Broadband Director.
Experts understand it can be embarrassing for victims to report these types of crimes, but it is important to do so, immediately.
“Even if we can’t track somebody down overseas or anything of that nature, at least we have a report of that so that in the future, working with our federal partners on these scams, we have some information at some point in time that they’re able to bring somebody to justice, and we can link them to that; maybe we can get some reinforcements back,” Bucknam added.
“The crime, it belongs to the criminals not to the person that lost money. So, we just want everyone to be able to come, learn, and share what they have learned with their friends and family,” Caruso said.
Below are the dates/times for the workshops:
10/8: 2pm – 3pm, Fairfield: Fairfield Community Center, 61 Water St, Fairfield, ME 04937
10/16: 2pm-3pm AND 6pm-7pm: Skowhegan: Skowhegan Public Safety, 51 E Madison Rd, Skowhegan, ME 04976
for 2 PM Register Here, for 6 PM, Register Here
10/20: 10am– 11am, Pittsfield
Pittsfield Town Police Department, 112 Somerset Ave, Pittsfield, ME 04967
10/22: 2pm – 3pm, Madison:
Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, 131 E Madison Rd, Madison, ME 04950
Click here for more information.
Do you have something you want us to look into? Submit your question here and WABI will work to get you answers.
Copyright 2025 WABI. All rights reserved.
