Douglas County fraud-prevention event offers tips to stop scams

Phone calls that sound urgent, emails that mimic a bank and payment requests that seem slightly off will be the focus when Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister joins Central Bank’s SecureU program for a free fraud-prevention session Thursday. The warning for Douglas County residents, especially seniors, is simple: scammers rely on urgency, impersonation and confusion, and the safest move is to slow down long enough to verify the caller or message.

Armbrister is scheduled to walk through the most common scams people should watch for and the habits that can prevent a suspicious request from becoming a financial loss. SecureU will explain how to protect financial information, recognize suspicious requests and safeguard accounts before trouble starts. Lyn Arce, who manages Central Bank’s Ninth and Kentucky branch, said the best defense against scams is knowing what to look for.

The event runs from 6 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 18, 2026, with appetizers and refreshments beginning at 5:30 p.m. It is free and co-hosted by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and Central Bank’s fraud-prevention program. The format reflects a problem that has touched households across the county and often hits hardest when a caller or text pushes a fast decision on money, account access or personal details.

Douglas County has pushed similar scam-prevention talks before. Armbrister gave a presentation on phone and cyber scams at the Senior Resource Center of Douglas County, 745 Vermont St., on June 18, 2024, and another at the Lawrence Public Library auditorium on July 18, 2024. Those sessions focused especially on seniors, who remain a common target even though scammers do not limit themselves to one age group or one medium.

The stakes are not abstract. A local family was scammed out of $90,000 in a case reported in September 2024, a loss that showed how quickly a convincing pitch can drain savings. At the state level, the Kansas Attorney General’s consumer-protection division investigates scams, telemarketing fraud and identity theft. The Kansas Department for Children and Families says thousands of older Kansans become victims of financial exploitation each year, and the U.S. Department of Justice Elder Justice Initiative says combating financial fraud and scams targeting older adults is part of its mission. The county event is designed to turn those warnings into practical habits before the next call, text or email arrives.