Greg's Corner

Census scam takes advantage of stimulus confusion

There’s already enough confusion when it comes to the economic impact payment that most taxpayers are set to receive. Many people who still haven’t received their stimulus checks are trying to figure out if maybe they did something wrong to delay their payment. Leave it to the con artists and scammers of the world to take advantage of that confusion. This latest scam takes advantage of not only the confusion regarding the stimulus payments but also the 2020 Census. The scam would have you believe that you need to fill out a census in order to receive your stimulus payment, but that isn’t true.

The scam works like so many others. You’ll receive an unsolicited text, email, or social media message that claims you won’t receive your stimulus package without filling out the Census. These messages will contain a link that will supposedly provide additional information. If you click on the link, several things could potentially happen. You could be directed to a site that will infect your device with malware, or you could be directed to a site that looks like the US Census site that is designed to steal your personal information. Either way, the goal is to steal your identity and not necessarily your stimulus payment. Although if your identity is stolen it wouldn’t be hard for the thief to claim your stimulus payment.

As always, you should never click on links from anyone you don’t know personally. Even then, you should be wary of links from friends in case their accounts have been compromised. Neither the IRS nor the Census Bureau will send you unsolicited messages about your stimulus payment. Also, keep in mind that all US government websites end with the .gov domains.

As we’ve been saying, the pandemic has been a boon for all types of scammers and cybercriminals. Now more than ever as consumers we need to keep our wits about us.