Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge spoke to a lunchtime crowd Tuesday at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope as part of her "Rutledge Roundtable" tour, which involves getting out into communities and informing them about the Attorney General's Office, what it does and how it serves the citizens of Arkansas.
Among the issues Rutledge discussed were scam artists and robocalls-criminal enterprises, usually based overseas in places like Jamaica, that will call to get personal information about vulnerable targets and try to steal assets, like retirement accounts.
"The elderly are particularly vulnerable to phone scams because they are at home and will answer their phone. They are vulnerable," Rutledge said. "One such con is the 'Social Security is canceled' scam, intended to steal from seniors and commit identity theft. That's one of the key issues my office has dealt with."
She cited pressuring phone companies to use their technology to spot and block callers coming in from these offshore sites and elsewhere.
"We need to also increase the (criminal) penalty against scammers who use fake phone numbers to scam citizens, especially seniors," she said. "Thousands and thousands, if not millions (of dollars) have been stolen from Arkansas, and we need to put a stop to it."
Another issue that her office wrestles with is timeshares.
"You go to these sales seminars to spend a weekend at one of these properties, then get locked into an agreement. You then go to one of these companies that tell you they can get you out of the deal and get charged high fees, only to find out they haven't gotten you out of anything. We are seeking to bring action against that," she said.
Sealing with those situations is part of the work of the Arkansas Attorney General's Office. Of late, however, they have found themselves drawn into the opioid addiction situation.
"Drug prices, overdoses, lives of family and friends impacted by addiction, we also are working on that," she said. "You would be amazed by how youngsters get ahold of these drugs. Painkillers to deal with pain in cancer cases; addicts are desperate to obtain these medications. Family gatherings, complaining about ailments; the young ones are listening to you talk about what is in the medicine cabinet."
As to what her office has done in those situations, "We have worked with local police to encourage citizens to turn in drugs, especially ones taking up space in the medicine cabinet that are no longer needed."
In this high-tech age, new issues have arisen.
"Vaping is big amongst the youth, and this is bad for them," she said. "It has gotten so bad at some schools, youth will often have a room set aside where they will sneak off to vape, using vapor flavors enticing to them, like 'bubble gum' and 'cotton candy.' Watch out for unidentified electronics in their belongings, it could be a vape kit. And monitor their phone use. Predators can gain access to your children through what can appear to be harmless phone games. Monitor your kids' phone habits. Be interested in who they are talking to. Be aware of what is happening in their lives."
She also mentioned disability and Medicare fraud.
"We want to help with this. Contact us if you know this is going on," she said. "Let us know when this is happening. Not only to prevent abuse of the program, preserving that program, but we want to stop these abusers from stealing the retirements of our elderly."
Rutledge's Roundtable tour continues this week, with stops in Hot Springs and De Queen.