San Ramon Students Launch Scam Awareness Initiative
- San Ramon high school students launched Project Cybershield to educate seniors on common scams. - The initiative includes workshops and outreach events, with a recent presentation at the FBLA conference. - The program aims to protect vulnerable residents from cyber fraud in the community.patch.com
Students at Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon have launched Project Cybershield, a scam-awareness campaign aimed at older residents. (patch.com) The student team has run workshops and community outreach events on phone and internet fraud, and recently presented the project at a Future Business Leaders of America conference, according to Patch. (patch.com) The effort builds on earlier anti-scam trainings in San Ramon led by student volunteer groups including Impactt Kids, which Patch reported was running sessions for seniors in April 2025. (patch.com) Older Americans are a prime target for fraud. The Federal Trade Commission said older adults reported losing $2.4 billion to fraud in 2024, with investment scams producing the biggest reported losses. (ftc.gov) The Federal Bureau of Investigation said people age 60 and older filed 147,127 elder-fraud complaints in 2024, with reported losses of about $4.885 billion. (fbi.gov) San Ramon is a large suburban city for a local campaign like this: the U.S. Census Bureau lists its population at about 85,900 residents. (census.gov) Student-led tech help for seniors has become a broader model beyond San Ramon. Cyber-Seniors, a nonprofit that pairs older adults with student volunteers for free technology support, continues to run webinars and one-on-one help sessions nationwide. (cyberseniors.org) Project Cybershield’s pitch is simple: teach people how scams work before the phone rings or the text arrives. In San Ramon, that work is now being carried by students into senior centers, community events and business competitions. (patch.com)
