Left to right: Rebecca Robbins, Rotary Program chairman, Tom DiZinnio, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Department Cold Case Unit investigator, Ruth Lundin, Rotary President and Jim Quattrone, Chautauqua County Sheriff.

Tom DiZinnio from the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office gave a presentation recently to the Rotary Club of Jamestown recently on money scams and how to avoid them.

DiZinnio is a native of Cleveland who attended John Carroll University and Cooper School of Art. DiZinnio moved to California with his brother to escape the winters and joined the San Diego Police Department in 1990, working patrol for 13 years while working several high-profile events including the Super Bowl and the Republican National Convention.

In 2003, he joined the department’s Economic Crimes Unit, working as a detective on commercial embezzlement and identity theft. In 2006, he joined the National City Police Department where for 15 years he worked in economic crimes, and homicides. In this capacity he worked with the Secret Service Fraud Task Force. He returned to the Chautauqua County region and joined the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit in 2022, where he works with Tom Tarpley – also from California – on multiple cases of unsolved homicide, missing and unidentified victim cases.

DiZinnio’s presentation focused on his “Ten Commandments to Prevent Becoming a Fraud Victim.” He offered statistical information, including that Americans lost $10 billion to fraud in 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission. He said nearly one third of all victims are hit more than once, and said 25% of victims had a new account opened without knowing. He also said there are three levels of fraud criminals – local con artists, organized crimes. computer hackers and finally international consortiums/government cartels.

DiZinnio then stated his “10 Commandments” along with various examples and stories related to each one:

– Know the top 20 scams, including targeted spear phishing, scam bank alerts, social media marketplace, and “Delayed Package” announcements, among many others.

– Know the scam key words, including gift cards, crypto, electronic transfer, personal pay apps, “use this link” and download.

– No one legit calls or emails for money/payments.

– Google is not a customers’ friend.

– Social media shopping is not policed.

– Debit cards should be used for ATMs only.

– The Postal system is fraud’s low-hanging fruit.

– Thirty percent of fraud happens because others don’t protect someone else’s information and get hacked.

– Put a wallet on a diet by not carrying multiple credit cards or sensitive information like passwords.

– Always remember the Anti-Fraud Prevention Code: verify who is being interacted with, protect sensitive information like account numbers and respect money.

In addition to his presentation, DiZinnio provided a handout focusing on phishing scams. Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone was also in attendance, and both remained after the meeting to continue discussing the issue with members.