Each year since 1963, May has been set aside to honor our nation's older Americans and celebrate their many contributions.

This May, we are creating the Arizona Senior Sleuths Project. This initiative is a new effort of the Attorney General’s Office to help Arizona seniors protect themselves and prevent others from becoming victims of fraud and abuse.

In Arizona, seniors comprise a growing and vital part of state’s population. By 2020, it's projected that 25 percent of Arizonans will be over 60 years of age.

Seniors are often vulnerable to financial exploitation. They are targeted by unscrupulous people attempting to defraud them through home repair ripoffs, living trust scams, bogus charities and other financial schemes. Helping seniors through crime prevention programs and vigorous enforcement of our consumer fraud laws will always be one of my top priorities.

The Attorney General’s Office is recruiting senior volunteers and will train them to identify and report scams and fraud, including Medicare fraud, and use their knowledge to educate other seniors. There are several ways to serve as a Senior Sleuth:

• Collecting suspicious “junk” mail
• Keeping a log of telemarketing phone calls received
• Attending “free” presentations and making reports to my Office
• Answering calls on the AG Elder Help phone line
• Volunteering at the Attorney General’s satellite offices across the state
• Staffing AG booths at community events
• Making presentations to community groups

Senior Sleuths provides a great opportunity for active, involved seniors to work with the Attorney General's Office to help detect scams and prevent fraud. I want all Arizonans to have the knowledge to stay safe and stop crimes before they happen.

The Attorney General Office cannot launch this effort alone. To make it a success, the Senior Sleuths Project is partnering with AARP, Arizona Senior Medicare Patrol program, Adult Protective Services, the Arizona Area Agencies on Aging, Beatitudes Center DOAR and other retiree and senior organizations.

To sign up for Senior Sleuths or for more information, go to the Seniors tab at the Attorney General’s website: www.azag.gov
I look forward to Senior Sleuths becoming a major force in preventing fraud against older citizens in Arizona.

Terry Goddard

Senior Sleuths Application