The industry of separating hard earned income from a naïve population moves 5.8 billion dollars, reported by the Federal Trade Commission, annually.  Anyone with a telephone number receives a daily constant barrage of attempts to gain access to personal information, to hold electronic devices for ransom, or to deceive individuals into embarrassing situations and extorting money from them. This program was not only offered to Grant Countians, but also marketed to the Kentucky Extension Homemakers Association (KEHA) members in Grant, Kenton, Owen, Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Pendleton, and Gallatin Counties.

The Grant County Chamber of Commerce, Forcht Bank, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Family and Consumer Science (FCS) agent, Asa Conkwright, and Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) agent Chris Ammerman partnered together to offer personal protective training and awareness on how to recognize attempts for fraud awareness program.  

The program had 65 participants in attendance. FBI agent Chris Hubbuch presented the most recent trends in fraud impacting Kentuckians and others from across the U.S.  Participants learned how to spot potential red flags to identify popular scams that target victims through electronic communication. Speakers illustrated how to recognize and respond if you found yourself in one of these scam situations. Participants were educated on common phishing scams on social media platforms, telephone call scams, and sexploitation scams. Participants received training on how to utilize settings to protect themselves and personal data to avoid being exploited.

A follow up survey of the participants reveals that 100% of the respondents understood that fraud occurs through multiple outlets including email, calls/texts, social media, and mail. 100% felt more confident identifying “red flags” for common scams. 96% reported that they know at least two ways to protect themselves from fraud.  100% of participants reported they knew at least one organization they can report fraud to, with 96% of participants reporting that they plan to report future fraud and scams.  96% of participants reported that they feel confident in their ability to protect their assets. Participants noted that they planned to apply locking their credit, being more careful with personal information, being aware of social media activity, and utilizing 2 step authentication to their daily lives. One respondent noted their gratitude for taking the time to open their eyes to so much that could be hidden. One Homemaker stated they wanted to take the information back to their county.