City Beat: Senior actors tell scams to scram

The actors in the Stop Senior Scams Acting Program have a message for those who wish to defraud the elderly.

Just because they're old, they say, doesn't mean they're not sharp. They can fight back if they know how to recognize a con artist.

That's the aim of the Stop Senior Scams actors' show, which they regularly take on the road to nursing homes, churches, temples and community groups. With song, dance and humorous skits, they show senior citizens the most common scams.

The actors are performing for their peers. The oldest member of the troupe is 96. The youngest is 65. The show grew out of Adrienne Omansky's commercial acting class -- part of the Los Angeles Unified School District's adult curriculum -- at the Felicia Mahood Multipurpose Center.

Peggy Mollin, 96, who performs in a skit about driver's license scams, said some of the vulnerability of the elderly has to do with isolation.

"You love to talk to people and, when you're lonely, you have to be careful because they get you in a bind," she says.

For more about the Stop Senior Scams Acting Program, read my story.

Keep scrolling down here to see the version -- with photos and videos -- that I sent out on Twitter.

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