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Fraud Prevention Meets Wine Tasting in NoVa

Randy Lilleston,

AARP

Amber Nightingale

If you’re a wine lover, you might pair a cabernet franc with a spicy pasta or grilled lamb chops. But how about tying it to a little knowledge about cryptocurrency fraud?

That was the premise behind Sips & Scams in Woodbridge, an AARP-led event held April 25 at the Winery at Sunshine Ridge Farm in Gainesville. About 100 attendees learned ways to help protect themselves from a variety of fraud and scam attempts, circling between tables where AARP volunteers provided details about romance scams, home improvement scams and other types of fraud. After the participants learned about the fraud types, winery staff offered tastings and information about six vintages – one for each type of fraud and scam being discussed at the event.

Amber Nightingale

For example, at one station, AARP volunteer Will Guthrie told the guests about jury duty scams, and tastings of a 2023 sauvignon blanc were offered.

Guthrie told the attendees that scam targets receive a phone call from an imposter posing as a government official, saying “you missed a jury duty appointment last week, so we’re going to send the police out there because we have a warrant for your arrest unless you pay this fine immediately. What they’re going to say is that ‘we need you to pay using a gift card, cryptocurrency, or go to my website and pay. I need you to do it immediately, before the end of this phone call.’

“What would you say? Yes? That’s what’s happening nowadays in Fairfax County and Prince William County,” Guthrie told the group.

Amber Nightingale

Fraud remains a massive and rapidly growing issue in America. In a statement to Congress in March, the Federal Trade Commission reported that consumers had reported nearly $16 billion in losses in 2025 and had submitted 3 million fraud reports to the agency in that year alone. In a report last December, the FTC said adults 60 and older had reported $2.4 billion in fraud losses to the agency in 2024, up from $600 million in 2020. And according to recent AARP research, 38% of adults say they have experienced fraud.

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Rachel Morris of Woodbridge, one of the event attendees, said she learned new information about medical equipment scams. “They were talking about checking your (Medicare) statement, because sometimes doctors can be charging you to buy equipment under your name and all this other stuff. You don’t know unless you’re checking your statement,” she said.

Cynthia Thomas, also of Woodbridge, learned new facts about cryptocurrency fraud. She said she was surprised to learn “that cryptocurrency is not regulated” – at least at the federal level. A new AARP Virginia-backed law targeting virtual currency kiosks, or “crypto ATMs” imposes transaction limits and requires licensing by the state. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Complaint Center received over 181,000 crypto scam complaints in 2025, totaling more than $11.3 billion in losses.

Cindy Zugay of Centreville heard about romance scams – and tasted a 2020 rosé. She said she recently created an account on a long-established dating website, but went into the experience with her eyes open. The information she heard at the event helped reinforce what she already knew, she said.

Zugay said she had communicated through the site “with one guy who is pretty extra-friendly, but we haven’t met yet. I wonder how he can call me ‘sweetheart,’ but we haven’t met yet face-to-face.”

AARP Fraud Watch Network™ is a free resource that can help you learn to spot scams and get guidance if you’ve been targeted. Call the free helpline at 877-908-3360 between 8 a.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET Monday-Friday if you suspect a scam.

Randy Lilleston is the homepage editor for AARP.org. He previously served as editor-in-chief for business news publisher Industry Dive and was a senior digital editor for NPR, USA Today and CNN.