A Webinar for Consumers: Avoiding COVID-19 Scams
The FCC’s Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau, along with its partners, the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S Postal Inspection Service, hosted a webinar highlighting current COVID-19 scams and providing tips and resources to protect consumers during the pandemic. Recent reports indicate that national COVID-19 infection rates have grown significantly. During this time, pharmaceutical companies have also announced that two vaccines have demonstrated high levels of efficacy, and that they are seeking federal approval for expedited release. The environment is ripe for fraudsters to use robocalls and texts to attempt to defraud consumers of money or obtain personally identifying information.
The webinar took place on Wednesday, December 16, 2020, starting at 1:00 p.m. EST and was streamed live at fcc.gov/live.
Agenda:
1:00 p.m. – 1:05 p.m. Welcome
Deandrea Wilson, Consumer Education and Outreach Specialist
FCC Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division
1:05 p.m. – 1:10 p.m. Opening and Keynote Remarks
Patrick Webre, Chief
FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau
1:10 p.m. –1:20 p.m. Federal Communications Commission
Keyla Hernandez-Ulloa, Associate Division Chief
Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division
1:20 p.m. 1:30 p.m. Federal Trade Commission
Colleen Tressler
Senior Project Manager, Division and Business Education
1:30 p.m. – 1:40 p.m. U.S Postal Inspection Service
Elijah Hebert
Postal Inspector
1:40 p.m.– 1:55 p.m. Question and Answer Session
1:55 p.m. –2:00 p.m. Closing Remarks
Eduard Bartholme, Associate Bureau Chief
FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau
Presentations:
USPIS Stopping the COVID Scams
Speaker Biographies
Keyla Hernandez-Ulloa has been the Associate Division Chief for the Federal Communication Commission’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau’s Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division since 2011. In this capacity, she provides strategic leadership with regards to planning, developing and managing the Division’s consumer-facing outreach efforts and agency-wide projects as assigned. From March 2015 to June 2016, and then again from January to June 2018, she served as Acting Deputy Chief managing several leadership transitions. Previously, she served as the Division’s Outreach and Policy Advisor responsible for communicating information regarding Commission rules, policy, programs and activities and developing and implementing consumer outreach and education policies, goals and objectives targeted to consumers at the federal, state, and local levels. Prior to joining the FCC in October 2007, Ms. Hernandez-Ulloa was the Community Relations and Press Manager for the New York State Department of Health. She focused primarily on addressing the health concerns of all the residents in the State of New York. Ms. Hernandez-Ulloa received both a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources Management and a Masters of Business Administration in Business Management from Pace University in New York.
Colleen Tressler is a senior project manager in the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Consumer and Business Education. Colleen’s career in the consumer affairs and education arena spans more than 35 years. During that time, she has taken an especially active role in helping to educate consumers about issues that affect their financial well-being. Colleen is responsible for planning, developing, and implementing creative, practical, plain-language, mission-related campaigns. She is currently coordinating the FTC’s consumer messaging efforts on the COVID crisis.