skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Valentine’s Scam Warning: Imposters Target the Lovelorn

play audio
Play

Thursday, February 14, 2019   

LOS ANGELES – Millions of Americans look for love online, but more than 25 percent have found scam artists instead or know someone who has, according to a new survey from the aarp.org/AARP Fraud Watch Network.

The online scammers often pose as someone living abroad or on military deployment. They spend weeks and sometimes months gaining trust, then ask for money to visit, or to cover a medical emergency, then disappear.

Kathy Stokes, director of the AARP Fraud Prevention Program, says certain things can be a red flag.

"They profess love very quickly,” she relates. “They try to get them off of the dating site. If they stay on the dating app, they could be monitored by that dating app, but if they get off of that platform, there's no knowledge of what's happening."

Some 17 percent of the survey respondents said they have been asked for money by a person they met online.
Experts say when corresponding online, resist giving out personal information and be very wary if the person promises to visit, then cancels at the last minute.

Stokes says there are ways you can check out the other person's story. In particular, take note if the picture shows someone extremely attractive, or if it looks like a professional photo as opposed to a snapshot.

"Google has an image search, images.google.com,” she says. “Put that picture in there and see what else shows up on the Internet where that picture is involved.

“Maybe it's under somebody else's name and someone has stolen that picture."

You also can take the person's compliments and paste them into your browser to see if the language matches examples of scams posted online.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021