Every year, thousands of people lose their hard-earned money to phone and Internet scams. Scammers will say anything to cheat good people out of their money – from a few dollars to their entire life savings. Some of these scammers try and gain your confidence by calling you by your first name, making small talk, or by asking about your family. Sometimes they even claim to work for a reputable company you trust. If you get unsolicited contact by someone who is pressuring you into action or asking for personal information (example: bank information, credit card information or Social Security number) – it’s likely a scam.
Here are some tips to avoid becoming a victim:
- When dealing with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), they will always send taxpayers a written notification of any tax due via the U.S. mail. The IRS never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone. For more information or to report a scam, visit www.irs.gov and type “scam” in the search box.
- If you get a call from someone who purports to be a grandson/granddaughter in trouble, resist the temptation to act quickly. Contact your grandchild or other family members to verify the information given in the call/email. Don’t wire money based solely on the information given over the phone or email. This is known as the Grandparents Scam.
- Never accept checks with amounts over the agreed upon price and never send money back. If you are selling an item on eBay or elsewhere, make sure that the check has cleared the bank before releasing the merchandise to the buyer.
- Legitimate companies will not ask for sensitive information over the phone or via email. Never give anyone you don’t know information concerning bank accounts, passwords, Social Security numbers, etc. Contact the organization/company using a phone number you know as genuine. Also, keep your anti-virus and anti-spyware software up-to-date.
- Do your homework and make sure that if you have a bad debt and owe money to a collection agency, you know who you are dealing with. Block all other collection calls.
- Scammers may tell you that there’s an outstanding warrant for your arrest for such things as missed jury duty or bank fraud. They’ll instruct you to make a settlement via wire transfer, money order, or prepaid credit card. Don’t fall for this scam…a valid arrest warrant is served in person by a law enforcement officer.
- Verify all outstanding bills with the appropriate company/business. Do not accept any packages you personally did not order.
- Local utilities, such as electric and water, will never send someone around door-to-door during an outage asking for money to restore services.