Greg's Corner

Updates from October, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 2, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: life insurance scam ( 2 ), loan ( 4 ), loan scam ( 6 ), medicare ( 17 ), Scams ( 1,368 )   

  Medicare, lost millionaires, and a loan scam 

  

  It’s time for us to bring you another trio of scams that are happening around the country. Even though these scams may not be in your area, they could be soon.

  In North Dakota, authorities there are warning of a Medicare scam that’s been plaguing senior residents of the state. Scammers are said to have been calling residents claiming that they need to be issued new plastic Medicare cards to replace the paper ones. All the resident needs to do is to verify their Medicare number. In reality, the scammers could potentially file numerous fraudulent medical claims using the victim’s Medicare number. Always keep in mind that a government agency will never ask you for information that they should already have.

  In one county in Kansas, the local sheriff is warning residents about a scam that sounds straight out of an old sitcom. Residents in Brown County have received letters in the mail saying that a relative has died and left them a life insurance payout worth millions of dollars. The problem with this scam is that scammers seemingly know the actual names of distant relatives of the residents who have recently passed away. This adds an unfortunate air of legitimacy to the scam. However, the legitimate-looking letter only provides an email contact for someone to process the ‘paperwork’. We imagine that there would be some form of payment requested to process the phony insurance policy.

  Officials in Georgia are warning residents there about a phone scam that’s offering loans in value up to $30,000. With this scam, the ‘loan’ comes at the cost of fake processing fees that could reach $1000 themselves. The scammers are asking for these payments in cashier’s check, wire transfer, or prepaid debit card. These are all forms of payment that could be considered untraceable once the money is spent. Officials would like to remind residents that legitimate lenders make their money through interest once the loan is paid back and not through outlandish fees.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 1, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: identity theft ( 107 ), security ( 46 ), social security ( 29 ), Synthetic ID, Synthetic ID Theft, Synthetic Identity Theft   

  Identity theft trick could be undetectable for years 

  

  Even if we’ve never experienced it personally, just about everyone is aware of identity theft. Over the years, victims of identity theft have found their lives thrown into turmoil over charges and expenses that they never applied before. However, since all the charges are in the victim’s name, it can take victims years before restoring their credit to a reasonable state it was in before the theft. Now, consumer advocacy groups are warning consumers about a different form of identity theft that could go unrecognized for potentially decades.

  The Better Business Bureau calls it Synthetic Identity Theft. It varies from usual forms of identity theft because it doesn’t steal the whole of your identity. In Synthetic Identity Theft, the thieves will only need your Social Security number. With just that, they can use a fake name, address, and date of birth to create a ‘synthetic’ person. That person won’t have any credit history at first so the thieves will initially be denied for any credit application. However, that will start a credit history for this synthetic ID and eventually, the thieves will be able to open some form of credit. Eventually, they’ll get a high enough line of credit where they’ll extend the credit to their limits before discarding the synthetic ID.

  Eventually, debt collectors will trace the original Social Security number back to its rightful owner and the nightmare of identity theft really begins. Young children are especially vulnerable to Synthetic Identity Theft as the thieves are looking for Social Security numbers that have no credit at all attached to them.

  Unfortunately, there’s not a lot consumers can do to protect themselves from Synthetic Identity Theft. Due to the way ID thieves use a hodge-podge of identity elements to create synthetic IDs normal precautions like credit freezes won’t work. The best way to protect yourself and your child is to keep your Social Security numbers closely guarded. You can also keep an eye out by monitoring your mail, phone calls, and email for strange communications that may be regarding your children.