Wednesday October, 7, 2026 12:30 PM Jubilee Hall | Peabody Council on Aging & TRIAD Outreach Event | RSVP 978 531-2254 or info@peabodycoa.org

>>Click HERE to link to the Peabody Council on Aging for Additional Info>>

>>Click HERE for Larger Image or Printable Version of Peabody Council on Aging Outreach Event>>

2026 TRIAD Event Schedule - Fraud & Scams, Fire Prevention & Safety

Peabody Council on Aging and Peabody TRIAD meet monthly and present community outreach events focused on helping older adults stay safe, informed, and prepared.  Discussion Topics include:  Fraud and scam  prevention, fire prevention and safety, emergency response and safety awareness 

TRIAD events have been held at the following sites for information and distribution of TRIAD materials.

Tuesday March 10, 2026 St Vasilios 5 Paleologos St

Thursday March 19, 2026 10:30AM Fairweather 20 Central 

Thursday March 26, 2026 10:30AM Penelope 98 Central St

Thursday April 2, 2026         10:30AM Tannery II  (12 Crowninshield St)

Thursday April 16, 2026         10:30AM Seaglitz 75 Central

Thursday April 30, 2026         10:30AM Rockdale Park 

Thursday May 7, 2026         10:30AM Eastman Park 

Thursday May 14, 2026         10:30AM Bresnahan St 

Thursday May 21, 2026         10:30AM Connolly Ter 

Thursday May 28, 2026         10:30AM Wilson Ter & Farnsworth @ Wilson Terrace 

Thursday June 4, 2026         10:30AM Peabody House (18 Walnut St)

Wednesday June 24, 2026 12:30PM Torigian Senior Ctr

Wednesday October 7, 2026 12:30PM Torigian Senior Ctr

Guest Speakers:

Sheila Dzengelewski, Peabody Council on Aging, Social Services

Joseph Mendonca PCOA TRIAD Chairperson

Sheila McDaid PCOA TRIAD Co-Chairperson

  Mariana Melville, Peabody Council on Aging, Provides bilingual services to our

  Spanish and Portuguese Community

*Sharlene Palmachuck, Peabody Housing Authority

John Hosman, Deputy Fire Chief

Officer Rick Cameron, Elder Affairs Officer

Leighanne Magnarelli, Mental Health & Substance Abuse Clinician Division of Social Services Julio Rodriguez Caitlin Fitzpatrick

Eric Dwan, Operations Manager, Atlantic Ambulance

Wednesday, June 24, 2026 | Jubilee Hall | 12:30 PM | Torigian Senior Center | RSVP: 978-531-2254

>>Click HERE to link Peabodycoa.org for Additional Info>>

>>Click HERE for Larger Image or Printable Version of TRIAD Community Outreach>>

Peabody to ban Bitcoin ATMs after residents scammed

 

Peabody to ban Bitcoin ATMs after residents scammed

·         By Caroline Enos | Staff Writer

 

·         Oct 25, 2025

   

PEABODY — An ordinance before the City Council would ban Bitcoin machines in the city after Peabody residents have lost well over $100,000 in scams involving these machines.

Councilors voted unanimously Thursday night to draft and advertise the ordinance change banning all machines that sell virtual currency including but not limited to Bitcoin.

They are expected to adopt the ordinance in a later final vote.

Peabody would become the third city in the state to implement this ban. Gloucester and Waltham both approved similar bans last month through ordinances Peabody used to model its own.

“What we’ve seen is the most vulnerable folks in our society have been targeted, particularly the elderly people who are very vulnerable to being afraid and wanting to make sure they’re following rules,” Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker said at the council’s Legal Affairs subcommittee meeting Thursday night.

Scammers often pose as federal agents with the FBI or Homeland Security. Sometimes they create fake romances with victims over weeks or months, or install viruses on their computers that lead to a victim speaking with a scammer pretending to be a tech support agent.

In an incident recently investigated by the Essex County DA’s office, a scammer convinced a victim that they would be ensnared in a pedophilia ring if they didn’t send money through Bitcoin machines, Tucker said.

The perpetrators convince victims to go to their banks and withdraw large sums of cash, often staying on the phone to coach them on what to say when bank tellers question why they are taking out so much money.

Victims then go to deposit the cash into these virtual currency machines, which resemble coin machines and ATMs. They deposit their money into them to typically buy Bitcoin, a virtual currency that has gained popularity over the last decade, and send it to the scammers.

But most of the time these machines are being used, it’s by victims who have been convinced to send Bitcoin to scammers, Peabody Police Detective David Bettencourt told the City Council on Thursday.

“Usually, the only money in these machines are the victims’ funds,” Bettencourt said. “If any of us are gonna buy Bitcoin, we’re gonna call a bank and buy Bitcoin. We’re not gonna walk into 7-Eleven and put money into a machine.”

Once that money is in the machine, victims almost never get that money back — even after the police are involved, he said.

More than $11 million has been reported stolen in Essex County through these scams this year alone. That’s probably only a third of what has actually been stolen since January, Tucker said.

One Essex County couple who are in their mid-80s recently lost more than $100,000 — the remainder of their life savings — through a scam involving a Bitcoin machine, Tucker said. A woman in Peabody lost $42,000 over several weeks in July.

A Salem woman who has a law degree and worked for the state for 30 years also fell victim to the scam. She used a Bitcoin machine on Canal Street to send scammers $13,000, then bought $1,000 worth of gift cards at Target at the their request so they could redeem their value, another common scam.

“When somebody tells you that they can’t believe that they’ve been scammed, believe them, because everybody we talked to said, ‘I can’t believe that this happened to me,’” Tucker said.

Legislators on Beacon Hill are working on bills to ban these machines or at least limit how much users can deposit in a single day. But due to pushback from the Bitcoin industry, it will be a while before laws like this go on the books, Tucker said.

Bitcoin machine companies, particularly Bitcoin Depot, largely have not cooperated with Peabody detectives who investigate these scams. One went so far as to threaten to report a Peabody detective to the POST Commission for taking a machine out of service after it was used in a scam, Bettencourt said.

These companies argue that because they aren’t the scammers, they shouldn’t lose out on the money deposited into their machines, he said.

There are 16 Bitcoin machines currently in the city. Users are often charged between 30% and 50% in fees, compared to cryptocurrency apps that typically keep these fees between 1% and 3%.

A study conducted by the Iowa Attorney General’s office found between 94% and 98% of all deposits made on these machines in that state were sent to scammers coercing victims.

Because they are used in scams so frequently, Bitcoin machine companies have at times included language in contracts preventing the businesses who house the machines from speaking with police in scam investigations.

“To my mind, that shows actual knowledge that these are being used for fraud, if they’re actually encouraging store owners not to interfere,” said Scott Dullea, chief legal counsel for the Essex County DA’s office.

Businesses housing these machines are financially incentivized to not report these scams because that could stop payments to them, Dullea said.

City councilors shared support for banning the machines during Thursday’s discussion.

“This is disgusting, and this is all educational to me, and I’m in law enforcement,” Councilor at-Large Anne Manning-Martin said. “We certainly need to get this out to everybody.”

Nothing will stop scammers from sending victims to machines in neighboring communities where they remain legal, Ward 2 Councilor Pete McGinn said.

That’s why the DA’s office is working with other Essex County communities, including Salem and Beverly, to adopt ordinances like what’s being considered in Peabody, Dullea said.

“This calls out for a bigger solution, a statewide solution, and that’s currently being undertaken. Obviously, that takes a lot of time,” Dullea said. “We’ve decided that this is probably the best stop gap to take right now to protect local residents.”

Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com .

A free Property Fraud Watch Alert Notification & Homestead Act presentation to learn how to protect your home from fraud and scams. Your most valuable asset!

This information is being shared by Peabody TRIAD. The Peabody TRIAD Council consists of Seniors and Law Enforcement working together to develop and implement policies and programs to reduce criminal victimization, promote crime prevention and safety awareness, and serve the needs of the senior community in Peabody. In addition, the Council designs and supports programs to improve the quality of life for our senior citizens. The Peabody TRIAD Council believes they have the ability to make a difference in our community and are dedicated to serving our city and its residents.

>>Click HERE to link to Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds for Additional Info>>

PCOA TRIAD hosts Fraud & Scam Prevention Discussion

Peabody Police Patrol: Alzheimers Program

LIVE PEABODY an Age Friendly City 2023

This information is being shared in honor International Day for Older Persons Month. The Peabody TRIAD Council consists of Seniors and Law Enforcement working together to develop and implement policies and programs to reduce criminal victimization, promote crime prevention and safety awareness, and serve the needs of the senior community in Peabody. In addition, the Council designs and supports programs to improve the quality of life for our senior citizens. The Peabody TRIAD Council believes they have the ability to make a difference in our community and are dedicated to serving our city and its residents.  

>>Click HERE for LARGER IMAGE or Printable Version>>

LIVE PEABODY an Age Friendly City 2022

This information is being shared in honor International Day for Older Persons Month. The Peabody TRIAD Council consists of Seniors and Law Enforcement working together to develop and implement policies and programs to reduce criminal victimization, promote crime prevention and safety awareness, and serve the needs of the senior community in Peabody. In addition, the Council designs and supports programs to improve the quality of life for our senior citizens. The Peabody TRIAD Council believes they have the ability to make a difference in our community and are dedicated to serving our city and its residents.  

>>Click here for LARGER IMAGE or Printable Version>> 

Peabody Community Connect | Together, Building a Safer Community, Through Prevention, Preparedness & Response Create or Update Your Profile Today

This information is being shared by Peabody TRIAD. The Peabody TRIAD Council consists of Seniors and Law Enforcement working together to develop and implement policies and programs to reduce criminal victimization, promote crime prevention and safety awareness, and serve the needs of the senior community in Peabody. In addition, the Council designs and supports programs to improve the quality of life for our senior citizens. The Peabody TRIAD Council believes they have the ability to make a difference in our community and are dedicated to serving our city and its residents.

>>Click here to link to www.communityconnect.io/info/ma-peabody for Additional Info>>

Peabody Fire Dept SAFE Program - Segment #4: Who we Are

This information is being shared by Peabody TRIAD in honor of Fire Prevention Week. The Peabody TRIAD Council consists of Seniors and Law Enforcement working together to develop and implement policies and programs to reduce criminal victimization, promote crime prevention and safety awareness, and serve the needs of the senior community in Peabody. In addition, the Council designs and supports programs to improve the quality of life for our senior citizens. The Peabody TRIAD Council believes they have the ability to make a difference in our community and are dedicated to serving our city and its residents. Please see our TRIAD page for other sponsored materials, events and scam alerts!

Peabody Fire Dept SAFE Program - Segment #3: Creating a Home Escape Plan...

This information is being shared by Peabody TRIAD in honor of Fire Prevention Week. The Peabody TRIAD Council consists of Seniors and Law Enforcement working together to develop and implement policies and programs to reduce criminal victimization, promote crime prevention and safety awareness, and serve the needs of the senior community in Peabody. In addition, the Council designs and supports programs to improve the quality of life for our senior citizens. The Peabody TRIAD Council believes they have the ability to make a difference in our community and are dedicated to serving our city and its residents. Please see our TRIAD page for other sponsored materials, events and scam alerts!

Peabody Fire Department SAFE Program - Segment #2 (Recognizing a Firefig...

This information is being shared by Peabody TRIAD in honor of Fire Prevention Week. The Peabody TRIAD Council consists of Seniors and Law Enforcement working together to develop and implement policies and programs to reduce criminal victimization, promote crime prevention and safety awareness, and serve the needs of the senior community in Peabody. In addition, the Council designs and supports programs to improve the quality of life for our senior citizens. The Peabody TRIAD Council believes they have the ability to make a difference in our community and are dedicated to serving our city and its residents. Please see our TRIAD page for other sponsored materials, events and scam alerts!

Peabody Fire Department SAFE Program - Segment #1 (Fire Safety)

This information is being shared by Peabody TRIAD in honor of Fire Prevention Week. The Peabody TRIAD Council consists of Seniors and Law Enforcement working together to develop and implement policies and programs to reduce criminal victimization, promote crime prevention and safety awareness, and serve the needs of the senior community in Peabody. In addition, the Council designs and supports programs to improve the quality of life for our senior citizens. The Peabody TRIAD Council believes they have the ability to make a difference in our community and are dedicated to serving our city and its residents. Please see our TRIAD page for other sponsored materials, events and scam alerts!

Personal Safety - A Guide for Seniors - Compliments of Peabody Municipal Light Plant

>>Click here for LARGER IMAGE or Printable Version>>

Senior Day at Brooksby Farm - 2019

LIVE PEABODY an Age Friendly City 2019

This information is being shared in honor International Day for Older Persons Month. The Peabody TRIAD Council consists of Seniors and Law Enforcement working together to develop and implement policies and programs to reduce criminal victimization, promote crime prevention and safety awareness, and serve the needs of the senior community in Peabody. In addition, the Council designs and supports programs to improve the quality of life for our senior citizens. The Peabody TRIAD Council believes they have the ability to make a difference in our community and are dedicated to serving our city and its residents.  

>>Click here for LARGER IMAGE or Printable Version>> 

2019 TRIAD Event Schedule - Fraud & Scams, Fire Prevention & Safety

The Peabody TRIAD Council meets once a month and works diligently to present their programs to all Peabody seniors and to develop & implement programs which enrich and protect the day-to-day living of all the seniors in our community. These programs are currently being presented at various venues, including Senior Housing.

TRIAD events have been held at the following sites for information and distribution of TRIAD materials.

FRAUD & SCAMS
FIRE PREVENTION & SAFETY
Thursday, January 31, 2019	11:00AM Tannery II
Wednesday April 3, 2019	11:00AM Connolly Ter
Tuesday April 9, 2019	11:00AM Rockdale Park
Friday April 12, 2019	11:00AM St Vasilios Church
Wednesday, April 24, 2019	11:00AM Eastman Park
Tuesday, April 30, 2019	11:00AM Bresnahan St
Wednesday, May 1, 2019	11:00AM Seeglitz
Wednesday, May 8, 2019	11:00AM Wilson Ter
Wednesday, May 15, 2019	11:00AM Farnsworth
Wednesday, May 22, 2019	11:00AM Peabody House
Wednesday, May 29, 2019	11:00AM Fairweather
Wednesday, June 5, 2019	11:00AM Penelope

Guest Speakers:

Maryanne Pierce, Peabody Council on Aging, Social Services Coordinator
Deputy Fire Chief, Fire Awareness
Joseph Mendonca PCOA TRIAD Chairperson

Peabody TRIAD Council - Fraud & Scams, Fire Prevention Presentation Spring 2018

The Peabody TRIAD Council meets once a month and works diligently to present their programs to all Peabody seniors and to develop & implement programs which enrich and protect the day-to-day living of all the seniors in our community. These programs are currently being presented at various venues, including Senior Housing.TRIAD events have been held at the following sites for information and distribution of TRIAD materials.

Peabody TRIAD Council

The Peabody TRIAD Council meets once a month and works diligently to present their programs to all Peabody seniors and to develop & implement programs which enrich and protect the day-to-day living of all the seniors in our community. These programs are currently being presented at various venues, including Senior Housing.

TRIAD events have been held at the following sites this past month for information and distribution of TRIAD materials.

Tuesday, May 2^nd11 am in the Eastman Park
Wednesday, May 10^th11 am at Tannery II, 12 Crowninshield 

Tuesday, May 16^th 11 am in the Wilson Terrace Community 

Tuesday, May 30^th 11 am Bresnahan Street 

Wednesday, May 31^st11 am at Peabody House, 18 Walnut 

Wednesday, June 7^th 11 am at Seaglitz, 75 Central Street 

Free lunch was provided by the Peabody Council on Aging

Guest speakers included:

• Leona Kaplan who discussed the City of Peabody and what it means to be an Age Friendly Community

• Carol Pallazolla was there from Element Care to discuss complete care through PACE 

There was food, drinks, raffles, give-a-ways and more!! 

If you missed out on this event, please watch our blog page for upcoming events as we progress with the global network of age friendly communities. 

Maryanne Pierce, Peabody Council on Aging, Social Services Coordinator
Richard Nelson, Deputy Fire Chief, Fire Awareness
Leona Kaplan discussed the City of Peabody and what it means to be an Age Friendly Community
Carol Pallazolla was there from Element Care to discuss complete care through PACE

Lanna Walsh, Service Coordinator
Danielle Intem, North Shore Elder Service Intern
Joseph Mendonca PCOA TRIAD Chairperson