PithnGrit: September-2019

New Format - We have a new format for the Androscoggin Retired Educators Association - For Your Information Newsletter.

The newsletter is now a part of my blog entitled, "The New Classroom and Stuff," and is much easier for you to read and for me to prepare.

We will have the same columns, and the same kinds of information; it's just that it will be set out to you in a better way. I'll always include the link to this newsletter with the emailed and mailed materials.

I hope you like the format, and will feel free to contribute to your newsletter. You can send contributions to me by emailing them to - rfuller@mainenet.org

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Oct. 9, 2019 Sixth Street Congregational Church 109 Sixth St., Auburn Hosts: Mora and Bruce LePage

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AARP Maine will publish the alerts on their website www.aarp.org/me each Tuesday, and then on Facebook and Twitter every #fraudwatch Wednesday.

Be a fraud fighter! If you can spot a scam, you can stop a scam.
Visit the AARP Fraud Watch Network at www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork or call the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 1-877-908-3360 to report a scam or get help if you’ve fallen victim.

If you have alerts to suggest, please send them to us and we will add them into our scam alert schedule. Questions? Suggestions? Contact Jane Margesson jmargesson@aarp.org or 207-229-5628 (cell).

Today’s work world is vastly different than when Labor Day was first celebrated more than 130 years ago. Today, more and more people are working from home for companies halfway around the country or even the globe. But with this new flexibility comes a new risk of falling victim to scammers looking to take advantage of people wanting to work from home.
The scams can promise work on medical billing, data entry or starting an online business, but they all require paying something up front. Once you start paying, the requests for more money for training never stop and in return you get a lot of useless information or requests to recruit more people into the scheme. There are genuine work-from-home jobs out there. The trick is knowing how to spot the real opportunities in a sea of empty — and costly — promises. Be a fraud fighter! If you can spot a scam, you can stop a scam.

Week 2 – Small Scale Cyber Attacks

If you do business with a national retailer or bank, chances are you’ve had your identity compromised at one time or another. These large scale cyber attacks have unfortunately become commonplace, but it’s important to know that criminals are trying just as hard to hack you as they are big corporations. Personal cyber attacks can come in the form of malicious attachments that steal personal information from your computer. They can also come in the form of email attacks, called phishing, appearing to come from a trusted source and asking you to confirm a password or verify personal information.
Be careful online and check your emails for common warning signs like misspellings, generic greetings, free offers or urgent requests for action. Never click on suspicious links and always look up call back numbers rather than relying on those listed in the message.

You see them in just about every store you shop in, colorful kiosks filled with gift cards. Gift cards for everything from coffee, to movies to video games. What you don’t realize is those colorful cards can also be the currency of fraud.

Gift cards are one of the top ways today’s scammers steal money from their victims. They convince their targets to purchase gift cards and share the numbers and security codes. Once shared, the scammer drains the value of the card and disappears. Keep this in mind: if someone asks you to pay for something by gift card, it’s a scam.

Be a fraud fighter! If you can spot a scam, you can stop a scam and remember, only scammers ask you to pay with gift cards.

Report scams to local law enforcement. For help from AARP, call 1-877-908-3360 or visit the AARP Fraud Watch Network at www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork.

The ability of technology to connect us to family and friends is amazing. Grandparents can talk online with their grandkids, high school friends can stay in touch from across the country and you can meet new people with similar interests every day. However, the distance and remote nature of digital communications means you often don’t know exactly who you’re connecting to.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, scammers stole nearly half a billion dollars in 2018 by posing as someone else online. These impostor scams take many forms. They can pretend to be government agencies, a burgeoning love interest, or a long lost friend. However, they all have one thing in common: at some point, they will ask you for money. Here’s a rule to live by: if someone you’ve only met online and never in person asks you for money, assume it is a scam.

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September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Beginning in 1999 the month was known as National Prostate Health Month. In 2003, President George W. Bush supported renaming the month Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. September was officially designated National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month by the Obama Administration in 2015.

According to the American Cancer Society approximately 31,620 American men will die of the disease in 2019. This makes prostate cancer the most deadly of all cancers for men, excluding skin cancer. Stated another way, every 18 minutes an American man will die of prostate cancer.

Men in Maine, beginning at age 55 are urged to have a discussion with their loved ones and physicians about being screened for the disease. Men in high risk categories are urged to have the discussion with their physicians earlier. Older men are at a higher risk of developing the disease as are African-American men, men with a family history of the disease, men who eat a diet high in fat, and men who carry the BRACA I and BRACA 2 genes, inherited from their mothers. Screening involves a simple blood test called a PSA and a digital rectal exam. Together these two tests can save a man’s life. If there is a diagnosis of prostate cancer there are many highly successful treatment options. If caught early the disease is 99% treatable.

After diagnosis and treatment a man and his loved ones may want support from others. Here in Maine we have many world class cancer centers such as the Dempsey Centers in Lewiston and Portland, the Alfond Center in Augusta, the Lafayette Family Cancer Center in Brewer and Bangor, the Beth C. Wright Center in Ellsworth, and many other statewide centers.

A life saved can live to see grandchildren even great -grandchildren grow and mature and can experience many adventures that life can offer. Please be proactive and discuss screening, it can save your life.

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Nutrition Facts

Per Serving: 269 calories; 17.5 27.2 3.4 31 188 Full nutrition

« September-2019

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