Jim Keeling is on the board that is helping to facilitate the drive to bring the International Women’s Baseball Outdoor Museum to Rockford. Jim also discusses new construction coming to Beyer Stadium that will honor the Rockford Peaches, and shares that an Amazon Prime TV Series on women’s baseball will be coming to Rockford for filming.

Runtime: 9 minutes

By Steve Summers and Kevin Haas

Rock River Current

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ROCKFORD — The two-year coronavirus pandemic has created a steady stream of new scams trying to separate you from your money and personal information, according the head of the local branch of the Better Business Bureau.

From pop-up testing sites that rip people off, to counterfeit masks, counterfeit vaccine cards and other methods, the pandemic has created new reasons for consumers to be wary, said Dennis Horton, director of the Rockford Regional Office of the Better Business Bureau.

“Since the pandemic hit, we’ve had nothing but a steady stream, a river I should say, of pandemic scams,” he said on This Week in the Stateline. “We’ve taken to calling them scam variants because there are so many of them.”

Related: Better Business Bureau warns of travel scams

The most common scam revolves around online purchasing, with phishing tactics seeking personal information being the second most common, he said.

“There’s always something new," he said. "I’m frequently amazed at the brilliance of these con-artists and crooks."

Latest warning

Last week, Horton's office issued a warning surrounding quizzes on Facebook and other social media. Those quizzes can ask personal questions like “what high school did you attend” and “what is your mother’s maiden name” — the same type of questions you may use to protect bank accounts and other crucial data.

“I’m not saying all the quizzes you find on Facebook are data collection scams, but that’s how they begin,” Horton said. “They’re collecting this information and they can now build a profile about you and, frankly, steal your identity.”

He said always take a skeptical approach to anything asking for personal information online, and keep strong passwords.

“We’re telling people way too much about ourselves while we’re online,” Horton said.

Lastly, don't be embarrassed if you are conned. Contact the Better Business Bureau for help if you're the victim of a scam, he said. 

Listen to the full interview below:

[caption id="attachment_177656" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Hononegah Forest Preserve is the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County's oldest preseve and one of its most popular. This year the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County celebrates 100 years. (Photo by Samantha Crooks/Forest Preserves of Winnebago County)[/caption]

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County.

Samantha Crooks, communications coordinator for the Forest Preserves, joins Steve Summers on This Week in the Stateline to talk about some of the ways the organization will celebrate its first century. (Listen to the full interview at the bottom of this article.)

She has challenged people to explore all 44 of the forest preserves this year in honor of the 100th anniversary.

The Forest Preserves of Winnebago County were created by a public vote in November 1922. It was the third forest preserve to be created in the state. The preserves now encompasses 11,500 acres of woods, wetlands, rivers, prairies and ponds in Winnebago County.

"We hear a lot of people just thanking us for what we do and they're very thankful to have a place to go to to just unwind and kind of get away from work stress," Crooks said.

[caption id="attachment_177657" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Samantha Crooks is communications coordinator for the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County. (Photo provided by Forest Preserves of Winnebago County)[/caption]

Listen to the full interview below: