KIAMA U3A member Parry Jones will discuss the dangers of scams when he addresses the group on Monday, June 23 from 2pm at the North Kiama Neighbourhood Centre.
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A physics teacher for 36 years, the Gerringong resident said he developed a love for astronomy and recently spoke about the history of the universe.
Mr Jones believes his talk will be extremely beneficial.
"We are constantly bombarded with people on the phone trying to sell us something and recently I had a phone call from someone who was using what is now known as an advanced fee scam, where someone tells you that you have won money or are being reimbursed for something, but say that first you will have to send them a fee before they can release the money," he said.
"In the ACCC statistics on scams, more than $100 million was reported as lost to scammers. One-third of those scams were the advanced fee types and half of those scammers found their 'mark' via the telephone.
"Over 120 Australians lost more than $10,000, 20 lost more than $500,000 and six lost more than a million."
Mr Jones had simple advice.
"As soon as you don't know the person on the other end of the phone in situations like this, simply hang up. I normally ask them for their name and phone number and I will ring them back and they very quickly back off."
