‘Summit’ teaches seniors to protect themselves

‘‘Nothing in the world is free. Keep that in the back of your head,” Norris said to the nearly 30 seniors gathered at the Frederick County Health Department for a ‘‘senior summit” on personal safety and avoiding the dangers of scams that target the elderly.

The Frederick County Sherriff’s Office and Frederick Seniors and Law Enforcement Together (SALT) council organized the three-hour workshop.

The Frederick SALT council is a volunteer group of Frederick County senior residents and senior advocates that meets monthly with local law enforcement to discuss important issues and to share information.

According to Judy Hallman, president of the SALT council, the organization helps seniors build lines of communication with local law enforcement and helps officers to hear, see and interact with them before a crime occurs.

From the perspective of law enforcement, working with a community’s senior population requires officers to take a different approach. Some seniors may have trouble seeing, hearing or have physical disabilities, Hallman said.

SALT is a national organization with chapters in every county in Maryland, Hallman said, and several participants in Tuesday’s summit were from neighboring councils.

Established in 1993, the Frederick council has held previous community workshops in the spring and fall, Hallman said.

Norris said con artists target seniors because older Americans are likely to have a nest egg, own their home, have good credit and are less likely to report incidents. They also came of age in an era when a handshake was your word and honor, Norris said.

According to Det. Jason West, money scams that result in the loss of more than $100,000 constitute the largest number of frauds in Frederick County. Recently, West said he investigated a scam that cost an elderly man in Keymar $100,000. A young man knocked on the older man’s door one day, offering to do chores around the house for free. The young man gained the senior’s trust and asked him to fund his ‘‘business.”

He began paying the older man’s bills and was soon writing checks for himself from the man’s bank account. The older man’s bank became suspicious of the financial transactions and contacted the Frederick County Sherriff’s Office, West said.

‘‘That’s a typical scam we’re seeing now,” West noted.

Scams and identify theft are lucrative, West said, and con artists work on presenting themselves well and building trust.

Cpl. Tom Johann, Frederick County Sherriff’s Office liaison to the council, noted that under Maryland law, residents are entitled to one free credit check per year through credit reporting services such as Equifax, Experian or Trans Union.

Johann advised seniors to take a little extra time to ensure their own safety.

Next meeting

Frederick Seniors and Law Enforcement Together (SALT) Council will meet at 10a.m., June 12, at the Frederick Law Enforcement Complex on Airport Drive in Frederick. For more information, contact Cpl. Tom Johann at 301-600-2167.