Seniors vs. Crime opened a fourth location in The Villages on Tuesday. The new office will operate out of the Moyer Recreation Center in the same office as the Fruitland Park Police substation located in the Village of Pine Ridge. The office, open Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will be managed by volunteer John Townley.
Seniors vs. Crime, a special project of the Florida’s Attorney General’s office, helps seniors in a myriad of ways. They serve as mediators, keep an extensive database of companies with complaints and keep people informed about the latest scams.
The data base with almost 7,000 entries covers everything from contractors and landscapers to dentists and doctors. This data base will tell you if a complaint has been lodged against a company or sole proprietor within the last five years.
Bryan Lifsey, a volunteer in the Sumter County office, strongly recommends people checking the Seniors vs. Crime database before hiring someone.
Keeping folks alerted to the latest scams is another role of Seniors vs Crime. One of the things currently happening is scammers are reading the obituaries and then going to the Post Office and putting in a change of address. The scam was first reported in this area by a Villager whose husband had died. Her mail suddenly stopped. She inquired at the post office and was told that a change of address had been put in for Fort Lauderdale. Other scams include parting people with their money in a number of ways. Lifsey a Seniors vs Crime volunteer since 2002 says he has seen the change as the Villages grows. With technology the scammers are becoming more sophisticated and with the larger population the Villages is becoming more of a magnet for scammers.
Lifsey who speaks to groups and clubs, says he always tells folks “Retirement is great, but don’t retire your common sense.” And he stands by the old adage, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
The telephone number for the new Seniors vs Crime office in the Moyer Recreation Center is (352) 674-1882.