Wednesday 15th February 2017: A Costly Subject
On Wednesday 5 October 2016 the guest speaker was Mr Jo Keys, a PSNI Officer, whose topic was “Cybercrime and Scams”. On that day it had been his intention to show a video on the subject but was so overwhelmed with questions following his talk that there was no time for the video. However he left the DVD with the club to be viewed at a later date. Entitled “A Costly Subject” the film about Scams and Elder Financial abuse, nicely filled a gap in the February programme. In the film actors from a drama group in Derry present different scenes in which an elderly person is defrauded by tricksters. The “Silver Life Insurance Scam” depicts a pensioner taking a cold call about a marvellous investment opportunity and all she has to do is give the caller details of her bank account. In the scenario entitled “The Credit Card Scam” another lady is conned into believing that she is speaking on the phone to the police about irregular use of her credit card, but to investigate further they need details of her bank account. In the third a lady is told that she has won a large sum of money and it will be lodged in her bank account as soon as she provides the necessary information. The video prompted stories of how many members had been targeted and served to reinforce the dangers of imparting bank details over the phone.