Ronda Gooden

Each year, AARP works in partnership with local leaders, organizations, and dedicated residents to help make livable communities a reality. As part of that effort, AARP is excited to announce the largest investment of grant dollars to date through the AARP Community Challenge grant program. More than $3.8 million in quick-action grants are being distributed to 343 projects across all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

If you’re like many Americans, the arrival of a package at your doorstep is a common occurrence. In the age of digital shopping, it has become harder than ever to keep track of what is coming when and from whom. This new reality has led directly to the rise of the digital package delivery scam.

In the fabric of society, few programs have woven themselves as deeply into the American culture as Social Security. The economic devastation of the Great Depression further exposed society's vulnerabilities, with millions of older Americans in poverty and many more at risk of financial ruin. In response, the Social Security Act was signed into law to better ensure a measure of income security for older Americans in retirement.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new shiny object that has captured the world’s attention. It’s also captured the attention of criminal scammers who are using it to make their fraudulent schemes more realistic than ever. One area where AI scams are particularly dangerous is celebrity impostor scams.

One of the oldest scams around involves a criminal getting hold of one of your checks and forging the payee and the amount. Usually this is done by “washing” the check with chemicals to remove the real information you have written on it. Today, with access to new technologies, criminals are “cooking” checks by creating fake versions of real checks using computer programs. These “cooked” checks can be manipulated digitally and either printed or deposited electronically, saving the crook a lot of mess and hassle.

Many of us have used a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment app to split a bill or send money to a friend, and some people even use them for traditional shopping. However, there are inherent risks that exist on these payment apps that everyone should know about.

For most of us, Social Security is – or will be -- essential for helping to cover daily living expenses and pay bills as we get older. The bottom line is that Social Security is your money, earned through a lifetime of hard work. Yet there are persistent misconceptions about its long-term financial stability and how it works. Here are facts behind five of the most stubborn Social Security myths.

This volunteer role highlights the state’s 50-plus population

Most of us do it several times a day. We have a question, need a phone number or are looking for a website, so we open a search engine and type in our request. What happens next is becoming more and more dangerous.

If there is one thing we know, it’s that criminal scammers are not stupid. They often use cutting-edge technologies to make their schemes more sophisticated and harder to detect. However, these same technologies can – and should – be used to protect people as well.