In honor of Older Americans Month, the Dayton Metro Library has been hosting events for senior citizens all month long. The Northwest branch held a seminar on how to avoid utility scams and unwanted solicitations.
Utility scams are when someone pretends to be from a local utility company, like AES Ohio or the City of Dayton Water Department, and then attempts to trick customers into giving away money or their personal information.
The Ohio Consumer Council ran the seminar. Representatives said utility scams often target senior citizens, but that they can be avoided by taking precautions like not answering calls from unfamiliar phone numbers and verifying the identity of people making house-calls.
Attendees of the event received information packets on the different types of scams and what to do if they believe they have been the victim of a scam.
Suzanne Kirchner is the older adult services librarian. She said it’s important for the library to celebrate senior citizens while also fulfilling its duty of providing helpful information for the community.
“One of the traditional roles of the library is to disseminate information,” Kirchner said. “We held this event to help our senior citizens, but this is information we all need to know.”
This was the library's final event for this year’s Older Americans month.
