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April 22 - How Con Artists Target Elders For Financial Scams

KSFR | By Mary Lou Cooper

Published April 22, 2016 at 2:02 PM MDT

Today Attorney General Hector Balderas kicked off Money Smart Week in New Mexico with workshops scheduled to train people on elder exploitation, cyber security for elders, and also financial literacy and employment for younger folks.

Beginning today KSFR will explore issues facing older Americans, a growing segment of the American population…and sometimes the most vulnerable. In light of Money Smart Week, We begin with a consumer story on how con artists target older adults, whose life savings and bank accounts are perceived to be ripe for the picking. KSFR reporter Mary Lou Cooper brings us the story.

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Mary Lou Cooper

Mary Lou Cooper reports on consumer issues for KSFR as well as on politics and elder affairs. She has worked for the U.S. Congress as well as for the Nevada and Tennessee legislatures, and remains a political junkie. She worked many years for an association of Western state legislatures and was a contributor to “Capitol Ideas,” a national magazine about state government. In 2016 Cooper received a public service award from the New Mexico Broadcasting Association for her KSFR story on Internet romance scams. She has received journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and from the National Federation of Press Women. She grew up in Oak Ridge, TN and received her BA from Emory University in Atlanta and her MA from the University of Texas Austin. She also holds fiction and screenwriting certificates from the University of Washington.

See stories by Mary Lou Cooper