As technology has evolved and criminals have an easier time accessing not only our information, but us, it has become much more important to learn how to protect ourselves against financial fraud. That can be easier said than done, particularly for those who are thrown off kilter by the fast pace of change to begin with.

But last month Perry and Associates partnered with the Wood County Sheriff’s Department to offer a training session to help local residents avoid being victimized. It was the first of expected quarterly training sessions aimed at combating fraud.

“We think it’s really important to serve the community and help educate because there’s so much fraud going on,” said Jodey Altier, a member of Perry Forensic. “We started receiving a lot of calls about fraud and decided that we needed to serve our community.”

Jeff James, with Perry Forensic, was right that we must always operate under the assumption that “people are greedy and always looking for a way to take a dime out of your pocket … and they don’t care who you are.”

According to Perry Forensic, a Wood County resident was scammed out of approximately $15,000 just the week before the training session.

It’s a shameful state of affairs, but that’s where we are. Our best defense is knowledge and preparation, and this training effort is an important tool for local residents.

“I think knowledge is power and I think if we can educate people and get more people to understand how fraud works, I think we can eliminate some of the problems we’re having,” said Wood County Sheriff Rick Woodyard.

Learn as much as you can. Take advantage of other such training opportunities as they are announced. Be ready to fight back.