Darion Ducharme and Zachary Flett have created a scam prevention workshop with a focus on Indigenous elders. Flett says he was inpsired after he heard his grandmother almost get scammed over the phone.
Teqare co-owner and co-founder Zachary Flett was inspired after he heard his grandmother nearly get scammed over the phone. Flett and his business partner, Dorion Ducharme, created a workshop covering common scams someone using a computer or phone might encounter, like romance, phishing, and text-based scams.It also includes advice on what to do if they’ve been targeted. Their goal is to help the older generation, particularly those living in remote First Nations communities, stay connected.
“We have elders put up their hands in the middle of the teaching in the middle and say, ‘I have a story!’ and we can kind of go into that and answer the questions that they have,” Ducharme said.“One of the elders at that event said that they don’t have a landline and they don’t have a cellphone, but after that scam prevention workshop, they said they wanted to go out and get a cellphone,” said Ducharme. “They felt more comfortable and confident navigating that.