Scott Turner
In Motion Staff Writer
Daytona State College’s Student Paralegal Association is a club that is open to any students who wish to attend and has a variety of different speakers throughout each semester.
Photo By: Lance Rothwell/ In Motion
Attorney Michael Pyle, of local law offices Pyle & Dellinger, gave a presentation “Scams, Shams and Flimflams,” about common scams that people fall for today and have in the past.
Pyle began his presentation by clarifying the purpose of his law firm. Pyle and Dellinger’s legal focus is estate planning, elder law, probate/guardianship, and real estate. Elder law is the several various areas of law specifically geared towards senior citizens legal issues and the one most commonly associated with scams.
Pyle began by saying “It’s almost dangerous to talk about types or examples of scams, because then you might be thrown by something new. The mentality of ‘I haven’t seen it before, therefore it must be legitimate’ can seep into anyone’s mind.”
He then covered the major types of scams; being tricked into giving personal information, being tricked into giving money for something that is not true and voluntarily sending money for things like gambling, sweepstakes and buying unneeded items were given as a baseline for elements of suspicious correspondence to be wary about.
Scammers typically utilize various methods of contact in an attempt to elicit a response from people; and while elderly tend to be more susceptible, nobody is immune to the possibility. Any type of suspicious mail, email, text, internet redirects, social media posts, telephone calls, door-to-door salesmen and sales websites all have the potential to be abused by people trying to con unsuspecting persons out of their money.
He related several personal stories about people who came to him to see if a scam was legitimate and people who have come to his offices attempting to solve a scam issue. Pyle opened the floor to questions at the end of his presentation.
All those in attendance responded positively to the presentation, “It was incredibly helpful information for anyone concerned with the dangers of being taken advantage of, especially some of the more modern email scams with seemingly official links,” said Joan Freeman.