TONY WOLCHASTY - SEPTEMBER 8, 2016

Tony Wolchasty was the speaker at the September 8 meeting of Emmaus Rotary Club. Tony is a volunteer member of AARP’s Pennsylvania Consumer Issues Task Force which promotes consumer education throughout the Commonwealth about fraud scams and identity theft.

Prior to volunteering with AARP, Tony was employed by the United States Postal Service for 35 years in Philadelphia and Newark. For 34 of his 35 years with USPS, Toney served as a Postal Investigator conducting criminal investigations involving violations of Postal Laws.

Tony focused his presentation on the best techniques to identify and avoid fraud scams and identity thieves. Tony’s most significant advice was to approach all communications and contacts with caution. If you are not absolutely certain you know the person attempting to make contact with you, you should treat them as a stranger.

Tony shared the specifics of several types of imposter scams including by persons posing as the IRS, Microsoft, political parties, etc. He went into great detail describing scams involving missed jury duty, romance scams and “grandparent scams.”

With the expanding presence of technology, Tony shared stories from former fraudster Frank Abegnale (whose story was told in the film Catch Me If You Can) on how to minimize the chances of being “hacked” or falling victim to identity thieves. Tony also cited free tools available from AARP (Fraud Watch Network), as well as state and federal governments to help in combating fraudsters.