Governmental & Legislative Office Presentations

While we must always be on guard against scams, fraud and theft, the Holiday season is the time of year that scammers, fraudsters and thieves work overtime to target us. This presentation will identify common holiday scams, discuss shopping safety tips (in store and online) and provide tips to make your home less of a target for burglars.

Pennsylvania continues to fight a public health and public safety battle against the heroin and opioid epidemic. Although the recent Pandemic shifted focus away from the Opioid Crisis, we lost over 5,100 Pennsylvanians in 2020 from heroin and opioid overdoses – that’s 14 Pennsylvanians every day! This presentation will discuss what Opiates are, why citizens are at risk, proper storage and disposal of Opioids, and explaining what Narcan is. This presentation also discusses what the Commonwealth is doing regarding the Opioid crisis.

Scammers and fraudsters target Pennsylvanians every day in an effort to gain access to our money or personal information. They target our emotions in hopes that we will let our guard down and believe the scams they are perpetrating. From robocalls to social media messages, texts to emails, Pennsylvanians must be on the lookout for these “too good to be true” hoaxes. This presentation will break down the top 10 scams currently being used in PA.

This presentation gives parents and teachers a foundational education on understanding the social media sites that children use and how to keep them safe while using them. Parents and teachers will learn how to navigate and learn how to enable the security features on the “apps,” along with recognizing the importance of knowing their child’s passwords. Monitoring children’s behavior and interactions on the internet is very critical in today’s world. Children are being targeted by online predators and cyber bullying at an alarming rate.

Pennsylvanians have a proud history of military service. Today, over 320,000 U.S. veterans call Pennsylvania home, and there are over 2,200 organizations that serve veterans all across our Commonwealth. Scammers and identity thieves target veterans because of the additional government benefits they receive. They often appeal to vets’ patriotism or exploit elements of a military lifestyle to steal their hard-earned benefits. This presentation identifies the top 10 scams targeting veterans and provides information on how to protect yourself and your family from being victimized by them.

As more and more Americans turn to dating websites and applications to find romance, scammers and identity thieves have increasingly turned their eyes to these platforms as a way to find new victims. The scammer creates a fake profile and works quickly to gain their target’s affection and trust. Once they do this, they use this false relationship to steal funds, information or both from their victim. This presentation explains how this scam works, identifies tactics the scammers use and provides information on how to protect yourself from being victimized by a sweetheart swindle, a/k/a romance scam.

As the elderly and disabled become more dependent on others for their care, it becomes increasingly important for individuals who accept the position of trust as their caretakers to be held accountable for neglecting and endangering those in their care. This presentation defines and identifies indicators of neglect, endangerment and abuse and provides information on how and where to report suspected caregiver neglect, endangerment and abuse.

This program educates consumers on some “Dos & Don’ts” of ID theft. Each year, more than 10 million Americans have their personal information — including name, social security number, bank account, or credit card number — stolen. This presentation is designed to raise awareness of identity theft tactics, steps to take to protect your identity and personal information, and information on reporting identity theft.

Dealing with the death of a loved one is among the most difficult experiences we can have, but having scammers and fraudsters compound our grief adds insult to injury. This presentation identifies the most common types of funeral fraud and bereavement scams, warning signs to look out for, and tips to protect yourself from becoming a scam victim while you’re grieving.

As prescription drug prices continue to rise, many consumers are turning to online pharmacies as a way to find less expensive options. Others use online pharmacies for the convenience of home delivery or due to privacy concerns. But according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 97% of online pharmacies are fake. This presentation provides consumers with information about the risks of using fake online pharmacies, and identifies warning signs to spot the sites that may be unsafe to use.

While most retailers are reputable and deal with their customers honestly, unscrupulous retailers do exist. This presentation is designed to educate Pennsylvania consumers about common types of deceptive sales practices, including: bait and switch sales tactics, going-out-of-business sales and continuous sales. The presentation will also provide important information about contracts for goods and services, including rent-to-own transactions.

Your home is your most important financial investment. It’s not just where you live; it’s a crucial investment in your future. When it’s time to perform repairs or build that addition, you deserve to know that the people and businesses doing the work are trustworthy. This presentation provides consumers with information to keep in mind before hiring a home improvement contract, what rights consumers have, and how to report contractor fraud.

The Novel Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has brought great changes to our economy and our way of life. One thing that hasn’t changed during this pandemic is the fact that scammers and fraudsters are still trying to trick us into giving them our money or our personal information. The new twist on current scams is that they are playing into emotions tied to the COVID-19 crisis. This presentation will provide attendees with information on COVID-19 scams, including cure scams, scam regarding vaccines, vaccine cards and testing, charity scams asking for donations, price gouging scams and more.

Bullying doesn’t stop at any age. As we grow older, some don’t always “grow up.” This interactive program is designed to educate individuals on senior bullying and includes: types of bullying, why people bully, and what an individual can do to help themselves or others in a bullying situation. This program will help any individual that is involved in a bullying situation to find the confidence within them to report the problem. This program will also help caregivers recognize bullying issues in the senior population.