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Farmers, others urged to watch for possible investment scams

An expert in fraud victim support says farmers and others need to be careful about investing.  Amy Nofziger with AARP tells Brownfield criminals constantly find new ways to take people’s money. “There absolutely is a new one every day, but what we’re seeing right now with the investment scams are the rise in crytpo currency investment opportunities. We’re seeing people lose millions of dollars in these.”

Nofziger says sometimes, the pitch to invest comes from someone the victim knows, or someone they met online, and many farmers have been victims, as they look for alternatives.  She says it often takes time to figure out the investment was a scam. “You might even see returns every month and you think you’re actually investing and earning money but then you try to withdraw that money and they say, sorry, there’s a penalty. You pay more money, and then you finally figure out it is a scam. This is wrecking communities and wrecking lives.”

Nofziger says criminals are using different ways to attract their victims. “We’re seeing these come in over the phone, through the mail, email, and even text messages. Text messages right now are a huge place for criminals to target their victim.”

AARP has resources online here to help avoid fraud, and their toll-free help line is 977-908-3360.

Nofziger spoke to Brownfield during the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting conference in Kansas City.

Audio: Amy Nofziger from AARP discusses fraud issues and what to watch for with Brownfield’s Larry Lee