Fri, Mar 20, 2015

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) - The Fraud Watch Network is extending its reach to Lexington Thursday evening. The network is sponsored by the American Association of Retired Persons and is apart of a national campaign to fight fraud and identity theft. 

Thursday night's seminar plans to go over a number of fraud related topics and how you can protect yourself. 

Visitors will have the opportunity to sign up for real time scam alerts via email. Those signing up will also have access to the latest fraud prevention tips and an interactive map with the latest law enforcement warnings from Kentucky as well as other states. 

The American Association of Retired Persons says the internet is a gold mine for scam artists looking for information to steal. 

The AARP says that every two seconds someone's identity is stolen. 

According to the Federal Trade Commission $1.7 Billion dollars were lost to scams last year.  

"That number is low," said AARP Kentucky Representative, Steve Wegenast. "Many times folks don't want to report that they've been a victim. Their ashamed or their embarrassed that they've been scammed so that number could be even higher than 1.7 billion".