photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The Senior Resource Center for Douglas County, 745 Vermont Street, is pictured on Feb. 17, 2023.

The Senior Resource Center for Douglas County is warning about scammers posing as someone with the center and claiming to be selling burial plots, and it wants to advise residents on how to avoid being scammed.

Megan Poindexter, the executive director of the SRC, told the Journal-World the center was first notified about the scam this week by one of the center’s clients who called about it. Although the person who called was not fooled, Poindexter said she suspects that person was not the only person targeted by the scam. She wanted to be clear to Douglas County residents that if someone claiming to be with the SRC is attempting to sell them something, it is a scam.

“We do not sell anything,” Poindexter said.

It’s one of a number of similar scams reported in Kansas and around the country lately. For instance, earlier this year, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas Turnpike Authority warned residents about scam text messages circulating regarding bogus toll collections. According to the FBI’s annual internet crime report, released in April, cybercriminals and online scammers stole more than $16 billion from Americans in 2024, and people over the age of 60 suffered the most losses, at nearly $5 billion, and submitted the most complaints.

Poindexter said many older adults have less experience with technology, and that means they may not know what scammers are capable of. Scammers have been finding ways to “spoof,” or imitate, specific phone numbers or emails to make it seem like the message is really from the person or agency the scammer claims to be.

In addition, the first step of hanging up on a scammer can be much harder for older adults, Poindexter said. Often, older generations were taught to always answer the telephone and to always be polite on the phone. But Poindexter said those habits can make it easier for scammers to keep people on the phone, tell stories and convince the person on the other end to do what they want. You can often shut down a scammer just by hanging up on them.

“It is OK to hang up on people,” Poindexter said. “You don’t need to justify anything (to the caller).”

Poindexter said the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services advises people who suspect they’re being targeted by a scammer to “Stop, Verify and Report.”

First, stop the conversation, and do not give out any personal inf​ormation. Then, take steps to verify whether the communication is legitimate using sources that you trust. If you get a call from someone claiming to be with a certain organization, the department suggests contacting the organization’s customer support through a legitimate website or phone number and asking the organization to verify that the person works for them.

And if you or someone y​ou know has been targeted by a scam, the department says you should call the Kansas Protection Report Center hotline at 1-800-922-5330.

Although Poindexter said it can feel embarrassing to try to reach out for help — even to trusted friends or family members — it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Scams have become common, and the technology and techniques that scammers use have improved.

“(Scammers) can fool anybody,” Poindexter said.