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Enhancing the lives of women and youth
in our community and the world.
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President Paula welcomed
Our Invocation was provided by Lydia reminding us how the sunshine impacts our mood and life. We were all so happy to see and feel the sunshine this week after weeks of storms. and cloudy weather. Lydia admonished us to "make our own sunshine" in the midst of life's cloudy weather.
Today's guests: Joining us again today was Janet Blumberg who has been attending on Zoom. She showed real SITS spirit by inviting her friend, Jane Sweetland to join her in person today! Welcome ladies. We hope to see more of you!
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This Week's Speaker was our friend and long time Tahoe local, Chris Campion, FBI Special Agent, (Ret.) Chris has had a long and varied career with the FBI starting after he earned his JD at the University of Michigan. He worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Special Agent from 1989 to 2014. During that time he was assigned to Sacramento Division, South Lake Tahoe Resident Agency. He specialized in
drug trafficking/gangs, public corruption , financial crimes, bank robberies, fugitives, child exploitation, child abductions/serial killers. Many of you may remember that he was the principal investigator on the Jaycee Lee Dugard abduction. He also served on the SWAT Team for 10 years, is an international hostage negotiator, and an instructor for other agents in legal, firearms, negotiations, and interview techniques. In 2014 he became the
Fraud/corruption Investigator for Fortune 100 Multinational Tech firm
Legal Dept. On a more local level, Chris has served on the Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation for years, many of them in board positions, including president. He has also assisted Tahoe Arts Project during Dancing With The Tahoe Stars with his extraordinary dance moves in 2022. As you can see, Chris has a very interesting background!
Today's program was titled Cyber Security and Fraud Protection. It focused on all the ways we can be cheated out of our money. Seniors are especially vulnerable because of lowered defenses and also having more savings. In 2021 seniors lost nearly 1.7 Billion dollars to fraud. Here is a list of reported fraud against people over 60 in 2021.
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Chris talked a little about the most common types which play on people's greed, fear, or love.
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Advanced Fee or Investments. Think Ponzi scheme, or a promised inheritance.
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Sweepstakes, Charity, Lottery, such as the Nigeria charity appeal or where you have to prepay taxes on winnings or advance money to receive your payoff.
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Home repair, family caregiver, tech support. Such as your computer going black and then a flashing screen comes up telling you to call Microsoft support right away. When you do, the scammers take over your computer and have access to all your accounts and information. Caregivers may sweet talk elders out of savings, get them to turn over power of attorney, or downright steal from them. And home repair companies that contact the owner and offer pre-paid services, but never show up for the job.
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Romance, Grandparent scam. The first prays on lonely (mostly women) where the party first establishes a relationship and then starts to ask for money for various things, including trips to see the woman. The second starts with a call in the middle of the night to an elder. The caller identifies himself/herself as their grandchild who is in trouble (usually jail) and needs money right away.
How can you prevent getting scammed or help someone else? Now that you know the most common scams, keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Here are some other ways:
1 Report any suspicious activity or money lost to law enforcement. The FBI keeps an online reporting website that helps to track down scammers by combining many reports and doing analytics. They may not look into your individual case, but every report helps them pinpoint scammers. Here is the link for online reporting: Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
2 Educate yourself with the help on AARP resources. The have an excellent podcast and online help. You can even call and talk to a real person about your situation.
https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/
3 Notify banks and credit card companies of fraud and freeze or change your accounts
4 Get your free credit report every year from the major credit reporting companies at: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/free-credit-reports
5 Hover over an email address to see its true origin. This isn't foolproof, so don't open any links or attachments from people that you don't know.
Thank you, Chris for making the world a safer place! We are so fortunate to have you for our friend and neighbor!
Last minute update: Member Andrea heard this news on the way home from our meeting.
FBI seizes website used by notorious ransomware gang.
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MAD NEWS!!!!
The club has started two (yes two) raffles for exciting vacations. One is a week's stay in a Kihei, Maui condo, and the other is a week's stay at an RCI timeshare anywhere in the world!
The odds are great too, just 200 tickets will be sold for each vacation! Tickets are $50 each and include six nights and seven days of accommodations (no airfare). To enter, or find out more information, visit Maui Raffle HERE, and RCI Timeshare Anywhere in the World Raffle HERE.
Winners will be drawn at 5 p.m. on May 12, 2023. Since it is all online, no need to be present to win, and the club's president will call the winners that night!
The second fundraiser will be the inaugural Mad Hatter Tea Party from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 30, 2023. Create a Mad Hatter hat with ideas from Pinterest and the internet, or come in costume and join them down the rabbit hole where being “bonkers” is quite alright. Tickets are not yet available so check back soon at www.sitsfundraiser.org to purchase the limited tickets. You’ll enjoy an array of tasty treats, tea, and entertainment, and you’ll have a chance to bid on Signature Soroptimist Baskets all within the beauty of the Grand Hall at Valhalla Tahoe.
The third fundraiser is the club's famous online auction. It will open on the day of the Mad Hatter Tea Party on April 30, and end at 5 p.m. on May 12, The generous local community is donating so there are many unique and great items to bid on, and they can be viewed HERE. And more items are being added daily! Normally there are about 300 auction items.
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Wishing a very happy January birthday month to our SITSters!
Maria Del C Martinez-Jan 8
Mireya Ortega-Jan. 16
Christina Frohlich-Jan. 17
Jeanne Prestella-Jan. 18
Mandy Kendall-Jan.19
JoAnn Tillson-Jan.22
Amy Simons-Jan. 25
Laurie Brazil-Jan. 27
Our age is merely the number of years the world has been enjoying us!
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Passwords are like underwear. Don't let people see it, change it often, and you shouldn't share it with strangers......
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Consider beginning your Thursday with us!
Join us at the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center at 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd. at 7:30am on Thursday mornings for our in person meetings. We are very excited to be getting together and hope to see many bright and shining, lovely faces. To join us by zoom, simply connect here: SITS Zoom
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2022-2023 Board of Directors
President Paula Peterson
Past President Nancy Muller
Rec. Secretary Lydia Rogers
Corr. Secretary Shirley Barr
Treasurer 1 Year Lois Downy
Treasurer 2 Year Jeanne Prestella
Director 1-Year Lisa Cali
Director 2-Year Margie Maxhimer
Delegate 1-Year Shelly Martinez
Delegate 2-Year Amy Simons
Parliamentarian Wendy David
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Laurel Society Members
- Norma Poole (in memory)
- Irene Morris (In memory)
- Irene Radford (2006)
- Lucille Holmlund (In memory)
- Joanne Shope
- Dilys Evans (in memory)
- Kathy Southern
- Teruyo (Terry) Kunibe
- Marilyn Milholland
- Doris Groelz (2011)
- Wendy David (2012)
- Pat Papp (2013)
- Lydia Rogers (2014)
- Trudy Mills (2015)
- Cookie Rork (2015)
- Diane Imbach (2016)
- Lisa Huard (2017)
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Post Office Box 18727,
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96151
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