(1 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Charlotte, North Carolina – 1 May 2025
1. Wide shot of attendees listening to a speaker during Scam Jam
2. Mid shot of attendees listening to speaker
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney, Western District of North Carolina:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"We’re at Scam Jam here in Mecklenburg County trying to educate the public about the scams that we’re seeing grow in numbers every day, and the best thing we can do, we try to prosecute everyone who does them, but the best thing we can do is prevent them in the first place, and that’s what we’re here to do."
4. Close up of a participant examining informational brochures
5. Mid shot of attendees listening to a speaker
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney, Western District of North Carolina:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"A lot of the questions we’re getting are what to do even when you know you’ve been scammed. So, you know, number one is, am I being scammed or not? We’re trying to educate people so they know they are, but then what to do when they do. And here at the Department of Justice we’ve got a fraud hotline , 833–FRAUD–11, for people to call, and we’ve given different ways for people to report the scams once they found out about them."
7. Mid shot of attendees listening to speaker
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Janice Scott, Charlotte resident:
"Few years back, my husband almost got scammed. At a point where he almost did what they wanted him to do, and then it just clicked to him. This doesn’t sound right, so I just wanted to come in and see. Get some more information about current scams that are going on out there and what I can do to hopefully alleviate that happening to me."
9. Wide of Daniel Ryan, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Justice Department, speaking on stage
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Daniel Ryan, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Justice Department:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"We’ve seen over the last 5 years and even the last year in particular, just an exponential growth in both the amount and of attempts and different types of scams, but also unfortunately, the amount of money lost by victims in these scams."
11. Mid shot of attendees at listening to a speaker
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Daniel Ryan, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Justice Department:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"So some of the reasons that unfortunately, the older population are targeted can be economic. Fortunately for some seniors, they’ve had the fortune in life of earning additional income, and they have more disposable income to spend. They might be more willing to listen to charities or to invest."
13. Mid shot of attendees at listening to a speaker
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Janice Scott, Charlotte resident:
"I have to be a little bit more vigilant in terms of what I’m hearing, what people are telling me and questioning it, even though he said trust, but I’m gonna have to verify."
15. Wide shot of attendees listening to a speaker at Scam Jam
STORYLINE:
Mecklenburg County hosted Scam Jam at the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte to educate people on scam and fraud awareness.
Seniors were the majority of the attendees. They were able to hear from representatives of the U.S. Justice Department and the North Carolina Department of Insurance and ask them questions.
Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans in 2023, according to an FBI report released last year.
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