Shielding Yourself: Smart Tips to Prevent Senior Fraud
Shielding Yourself: Smart Tips to Prevent Senior Fraud
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Senior fraud affects millions of elderly citizens each year. These individuals, often targeted for their perceived vulnerability, lose significant amounts of money, property, and valuable personal information. The emotional toll of such scams can also lead to anxiety, depression, and a loss of trust in others, compounding the financial damage. As a result, combating senior fraud requires not only stronger legal protections and enforcement but also increased public awareness, education, and support systems tailored to the needs of older adults.
Join our webinar to hear from our panelists about the top scams targeting seniors and prevention tips to help protect you or your loved ones from becoming a target.
Panelists
Moderator
Donna Lowry is an award-winning journalist who combines a passion for storytelling and a desire to empower others with communication and critical thinking skills surrounding political, educational, and financial issues.
Through her firm, Donna Lowry Communications, she provides consulting, writing, and producing services for educational, media, professional, and business outlets.
Donna serves as host/producer for several programs, including Lawmakers on Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Donna is an eight-time Emmy award winner, a three-time national Gabriel Award recipient, and has garnered honors from countless organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists, Atlanta Association of Black Journalists, Georgia Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists, Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), and the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE).
Her media peers inducted Donna into the prestigious NATAS Southeast Silver Circle to recognize her lasting contributions to the broadcast industry.
Donna has a master's in Journalism from Northwestern University and a Bachelor's in Mass Communications and Administration and Management from Chatham University.
Her professional affiliations include the Atlanta Press Club, the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Southeastern Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS SE).
In her 15th year as a Girl Scout Leader, Donna has led girls ranging in age from kindergarten through 12th grade. Her community service affiliations also include Magnolia (GA) Chapter of Links, Inc., and Nu Lambda Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Donna and her husband, Army Major (Ret) Bennet W. Reid, Jr., are the parents of three daughters.
Counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement in Atlanta, Georgia
Sean Deitrick is counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement in Atlanta, Georgia, where he investigates potential violations of the federal securities Laws. Sean previously worked as an Assistant US Attorney in Macon, Georgia, as a white-collar prosecutor in Knoxville, Tennessee, and as an Assistant Public Defender outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Former Chair, Criminal Section, Tennessee Bar Association. JD, Vanderbilt; BA, MA, U. Tenn. Go Vols.
Acting Director of the CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight
Rahul Varma is the Acting Director of the Division of Market Oversight at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Mr. Varma leads a team of attorneys, analysts, and other professional staff who oversee derivatives platforms and swap data repositories as well as monitor developments in commodity markets.
Supervisory Special Agent Aaron J. Seres, Financial Crimes and Money Laundering, Atlanta Field Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Supervisory Special Agent Aaron J. Seres received an appointment as a Special Agent with the FBI in September 2004, and throughout twenty plus years has had the pleasure of serving in multiple FBI Divisions. He worked as a field Special Agent in Cleveland, OH and Charlotte, NC for over ten years specializing in financial crimes, while also working assignments investigating public corruption, terrorism, civil rights, child crimes, and other violations. During his time as a field Agent, Mr. Seres was accepted as an inaugural member of the FBI’s national Corporate Fraud Response Team and served on deployments in support of high priority financial crimes investigations; he worked in a media relations role; and served overseas in the FBI’s Brussels, Belgium Legal Attaché Office in support of an FBI initiative to address Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations and international money laundering.
In addition to his time spent serving as a field Agent working investigations, Mr. Seres was promoted to several leadership roles within the FBI. He was first promoted to Economic Crimes Unit Supervisory Special Agent at FBI Headquarters where he led the FBI's national Corporate Fraud Program and oversaw all Economic Crimes programs throughout the Southeastern FBI field offices. His work resulted in a promotion to Chief of the FBI’s Economic Crimes Unit. In this capacity, he led a team responsible for the national program management of the FBI’s Corporate Fraud, Securities & Commodities Fraud, Mass Marketing Fraud, Insurance Fraud, Wire Fraud, and Special Agent Accountant Programs. During his tenure as Chief, Mr. Seres instituted several new initiatives that greatly advanced the FBI’s ability to address financial crimes, and to program managed many high-profile fraud investigations in the wake of the Financial Crisis. After a return to field operations, Mr. Seres was then promoted to Assistant Section Chief of the Financial Crimes Section. In this role, he was charged with leading all FBI financial crimes programs nationally to include Money Laundering, Corporate Fraud, Securities & Commodities Fraud, Cyber Enhanced Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud, Health Care Fraud, Intellectual Property Rights Crimes, and other fraud schemes in addition to having oversight responsibility for the FBI’s Forensic Accountant Program. In this role, Mr. Seres formulated and led successful new initiatives to protect the elderly and combat the opioid epidemic.
Mr. Seres also served in a leadership role as an Assistant Inspector with the FBI’s Inspection Division. In this role, he was responsible for the inspection of FBI field offices, FBI involved shooting incidents, and special projects to ensure the FBI holds itself accountable in a consistent and transparent manner. Mr. Seres returned to field operations with a 2021 promotion to his current position as Supervisory Special Agent for the Atlanta Field Office’s Financial Crimes and Money Laundering squad where he is charged with the supervision and oversight of Georgia’s financial crimes program, which includes all white-collar matters, money laundering, and virtual currency for the state of Georgia. Prior to his appointment to the FBI, Mr. Seres worked as a Certified Public Accountant, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and a Masters of Business Administration Degree from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist.
Assistant Commissioner of Securities, Division Director Securities & Charities Division Georgia Secretary of State
Noula Zaharis is the Assistant Commissioner of Securities and the Director of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Securities & Charities Division. Her experience includes serving as a regulatory compliance analyst at Ekonomou, Atkisson & Lambros Law Firm, which served as the Investigative Agent for the Georgia Securities Division. She also served as Director of Compliance at Investment Law Group, managing the registrations and compliance support for state and federal registered investment advisers and private investment funds. She also held the position of Vice-President of Compliance at a publicly traded oil and gas company located in Texas. Ms. Zaharis is a former English and Latin teacher with Atlanta Public Schools and was an associate professor of English at Georgia State University. She serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association on State Charities Officials (NASCO) and on various committees for the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA). She received her undergraduate degree (BA) in English Language and Literature/Letters from Furman University and Master of Arts, English/Language Arts Teacher Education from Emory University. She holds the Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional (IACCP) designation.