The FBI is hosting an event in Tucson this week that aims to educate senior citizens on phone and internet scams.
Scams targeting people 60 years and older resulted in more than $3 billion in losses nationwide last year, according to the FBI, up more than 10% from 2022.
Ed Eddingfield,a senior pastor at the First Southern Baptist Church in Tucson, says his church and others started organizing after several of their members received spam calls, and some fell victim to them.
"Spam emails, and phishing email, and you know, spams that are coming across, continue to increase and they continue to just be more and more complex, and they’re getting harder to identify," he said. "From what I understand, they’re going to be talking about all kinds of scams, deception. They’re going to be doing a live presentation about how people can use your voice to try to mimic you, using AI."
Eddingfield says that’s what led them to contact the FBI in Tucson and ask for help. The agency is partnering with local law enforcement to put together a seminar at Edingfield’s church that covers different kinds of scams and how to spot them.
The seminar is at the First Southern Baptist Church on Wednesday at 1 p.m. It is open to the public and free to attend.
