GREEN VALLEY, Ariz. (KGUN) — With Arizona elder fraud cases up 36% from 2022 to 2023Green Valley residents gathered today at the Desert Hills Green Valley Recreation Center for Fight Fraud Day, an event hosted by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department designed to arm the community against the latest scams.

Green Valley, known for its large retirement population, has become a prime target for scamsmaking the need for awareness and prevention all the more urgent.

PCSD’s Financial Crimes and Fraud Unit gave an informative presentation that exposed the range of scams targeting residents, including new schemes involving voice cloning, number spoofing and romance scams, which have become one of the most prevalent types of fraud in the area .

Detective Tyler Rivas of the PCSD Financial Crimes Unit highlighted the global reach of these scams.

“These people doing these scams can be in all parts of the world now,” Rivas said. “We just want to raise awareness and try to prevent any kind of scams and becoming a victim.”

Green Valley resident Mary Lehman shared her experiences with these relentless scam attempts, noting the emotional toll of receiving multiple scam calls daily.

“I’ve been contacted five times now that I’m the winner of the Publisher’s Clearinghouse sweepstakes,” Lehman said with a laugh. “I get ten to twelve calls a day. It’s a terrible way to have to live.”

She is not the only one who feels targeted. Green Valley Sheriff’s Auxiliary volunteers assist local law enforcement in the area and often hear about these scams as they develop, many involving credit card and checking account fraud.

The organization has a decision Scam Squad to eliminate these various scams from the area.

Chuck Carter, Director of Business Relations for the Green Valley Sheriff’s Volunteer Auxiliary, noted the frequency of scam reports.

“It’s usually two or three attempts a day that people call in to report,” Carter said. “Anything from attempted phone scams to cases where they actually broke into people’s checking accounts.”

The presentation also featured a demonstration of voice cloning, where an attendee reads a story, with their voice used to train a simulated voicemail message pretending to need money from the receiver. The PCSD demonstration was intended to show how the voices of family members can be used to trick unsuspecting victims.

The AI ​​problem, like popular tools like ChatGPT, are used to create fake stories that try to establish a relationship with those targeted.

PCSD officers offered practical advice, advising residents to remain skeptical of unsolicited emails, especially those purporting to be from government agencies, and to watch out for red flags.

The Fight Fraud Day event is part of PCSD’s larger effort to equip vulnerable members of the community with fraud prevention strategies. The department regularly offers similar workshops at churches, businesses and other community groups around the county.

If you are interested in taking a fraud prevention workshop or learning more, visit the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. financial crime and fraud website, contact PCSD at 520-351-3000 or email [email protected].