Rotateller Rotary Club of Owego, NY
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 Gary Williams, Editor

This week’s meeting was a joint meeting with the Endwell Club at the Links. It worked out beautifully with the help of Fred, great weather, and Mike Donaher, Assistant District Attorney for NY in charge of consumer fraud.

CHRISTMAS TRIP:

GUESTS:

• Carole had her daughter Andrea Klett and granddaughter Olivia with her.
• Ed Arrington had two guests for LM, Don Owen and Jonathon Pillar. Al mentioned that they were significant contributors to the volunteer effort for Bike Tioga.

Fred was fined for the shortest trip to the meeting.

Al was very pleased about the success of Bike Tioga.

EXCHANGE STUDENTS:

Laura announced that Matti is arriving from Germany tomorrow evening. The student going to the Endwell Club is from Brazil and will be arriving on Sunday. We received an email from Brigette Talman today reminding us that she came to our house 10 years ago.

PROGRAM:

Mike Donaher, Assistant New York State District Attorney in charge of Consumer Fraud made an excellent and interesting presentation.

He discussed what to look for in scams. We need to be intelligent and careful consumers.

The “Do Not Call” list has reduced telemarketing fraud. www.donotcall.gov or www.FTC.gov

Never send money to get money

Checks deposited to your bank account are posted before they are confirmed as “Provisional Credit”. You can write checks on that amount, but the bank will demand reimbursement from you if the check does not clear.

This is the home improvement season

He also went over the Nigerian Scam

The biggest scam is identity theft and the most important information is your mother’s maiden name. This needs to be protected. Dumpster diving or recycling bin diving is a method to your personal information

Check your credit card bills and bank statements immediately when they come and call immediately if you find a discrepancy in either direction.

Get annual credit report. This is now free once a year, but he described how you can get a free one four times a year. www.annualcreditreport.com You need to answer questions to get into the site. Once you are in, do not say that you want credit reports from the three companies. Only ask for one. You can then do this three times a year – once for each company. You want to get anything changed that is there incorrectly, whether it is good or bad. Do not just throw away a credit card. The account must be cancelled. You can have someone do the credit check for you for $15, but it is easy to do yourself.

There is an effort to get a “Do not fax” law, but he does not know the current status.

Be careful not to purchase gift cards from the rack. Get them from behind the counter. The pin number should be obscured and the coating should have to be scratched off.

If someone asks you for ID, tell them that you will call back and look up the appropriate number.

50/50 Paul Stear

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