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  Geebo 8:00 am on July 3, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam, debt forgiveness ( 13 ), Scams ( 1,354 ), student debt ( 15 ), student loans ( 15 )   

  If it’s in the news, there’s a scam for it 

  

  By Greg Collier

  One of our well-used adages about scammers is they may be some of the most informed people on the planet. If there is a major news story, there will be scammers looking to take advantage of it. Typically, we see this with natural disasters such as hurricanes and the like. However, the news story can also be something more socioeconomic that’s a call to action for scammers.

  For example, student loans have regularly been in the news for the past few years. We all know why student loans have been in the news, and we’re going to gloss over those details to try to prevent this from becoming a political discussion. And as we all also know, student loans garnered a large amount of the headlines this past week.

  This has caused not only the Attorney General’s Office, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue a warning about student loan scammers. Both offices are warning consumers, scammers will more than likely start sending out texts, emails, and robocalls offering some kind of student debt relief.

  These scammers tend to use a nebulous name of an organization that doesn’t exist. They’ll often use generic names like ‘The Student Loan Forgiveness Center’. However, the scammers may have some of your identifying information to make the scam seem more authentic.

  In most cases, the scammers are trying to get you to pay an ‘application fee’ while they promise debt relief that will never come. Once a victim makes a payment to the scammers, they’ll continue to hound the victim for more payments, usually under the guise of having to navigate government red tape.

  Despite, the recent news, there are still student debt relief programs; however, they are only available through the government. Please keep in mind, the government is not going to call you to start the debt relief process. You have to reach out to them first.

  If you have more concerns or questions, you can read more about student debt relief scams at the Federal Student Aid website.

   

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  Geebo 8:01 am on June 26, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam, elder scam ( 7 ), Scams ( 1,354 ), sweepstakes ( 25 )   

  Elderly man loses $800K to in a week to scammers 

  

  By Greg Collier

  This story is as heartbreaking as it is infuriating. An elderly man from Washington sold his home for $800,000 and planned to use the money for his retirement. Within a week, he was essentially homeless.

  When the movers showed up at his home, he couldn’t afford to pay them. He called his daughter, who lives in Minneapolis. The man kept telling his daughter everything will be fine soon, but wouldn’t elaborate. Eventually, she was able to coax out of her father he thought he had won a sweepstakes.

  The man had fallen victim to the advance fee scam. This is when scammers will tell the victim they’ve won something, but they need to make a payment in order to claim their prize. Typically, the scammers will say the money the victim is paying is for taxes or processing fees.

  In this man’s case, the scammers kept asking for cashier’s checks in the amount of $50,000 each before they took all of his savings. They called and texted him every day for a week before they completely drained him of all his money.

  Once again, the bank is being called into question for not allegedly seeing the red flags of a man who withdrew $200,000 in one day from two separate branches of the same bank. Scammers of all types will often instruct their victims to use separate bank branches to try to throw off suspicion from the banks.

  There could be a light at the end of the tunnel for the victim of this story. Both the media and the FBI are looking into the man’s case and seem to have some promising leads. However, in the majority of cases, victims never see their money again.

  For those of us with elderly relatives, we want to try to protect them from cruel scams like this, but we can’t be there 24-7 for them. The best way to help them is to remind them of scams like this. You can let them know it’s illegal for anyone to ask for money for a sweepstakes prize. You can also show them this blog post or any number of news articles that detail this scam.

  No one’s parents or grandparents should have to endure this kind of financial torment.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on May 23, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam, Amazon ( 108 ), bitcoin ( 31 ), Facebook ( 178 ), look who died, Messenger ( 4 ), phishing ( 75 ), Publishers Clearing House ( 11 ), Scams ( 1,354 ), sweepstakes ( 25 )   

  Scam Round Up: The classics make a return 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Even though there has been an uptick in technologically advanced scams, there are some classic scams that never went away. Here are three we think you should be reminded of.

  If you get a phone call or email that says there’s been a fraudulent charge on your Amazon account, the chances are it’s a scam.

  A woman from Lincoln, Nebraska, recently fell victim to this scam when she thought she was talking to the fraud department of her bank. The scammers convinced her she needed to make payments in Bitcoin to correct the error. She ended up sending the scammers $52,000 in Bitcoin after withdrawing it from her 401K.

  If you receive a call or message like this, go directly to your Amazon account and check for fraudulent charges. If there aren’t any, then whoever contacted you is trying to scam you. No matter how urgent they make it seem, slow down and verify their story before sending any money. And if Bitcoin is brought up in the conversation, then it’s definitely a scam.

  Scammers love to hijack Facebook accounts. When they do, not only do they get your personal information, but they can then use your account to try to scam everyone on your friends list.

  One of the ways they do this is by sending a Facebook message that says, “Look who died.” The message contains a link that appears like it will take you to a news article. Instead, it will inject malware onto your device that can hijack your Facebook account.

  Messenger is a pretty big breeding ground for scams. Outside of the ‘look who died’ message, you should also avoid messages about government grants, cryptocurrency, or just about any message that involves money.

  You may also want to let your Facebook friend know outside of Facebook that their account has been hacked.

  Last, but certainly not least, is the Publisher’s Clearinghouse scam. We’re all familiar with PCH. If you win a substantial prize from them, they surprise you at home in their Prize Van with a large novelty check. The thing with PCH is, you have to enter their sweepstakes first before you can win anything.

  Scammers will call victims at random while posing as PCH, telling their victims they’ve won millions of dollars. The scammers will then try to get their victims to make a payment to claim their prize. The payment will be disguised as something like taxes or processing fees. This is known as the advanced fee scam, which has cost victims thousands of dollars. Once a victim makes payment, the scammers will continue to string the victim along by asking for more money.

  Keep in mind, it’s illegal for sweepstakes like PCH to ask for money before issuing a prize. That’s why legitimate sweepstakes always have the tagline of ‘no purchase necessary’.

   
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  Geebo 9:00 am on January 20, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam, check scam ( 79 ), fake check ( 47 ), Publishers Clearing House ( 11 ), Scams ( 1,354 ), sweepstakes ( 25 )   

  Sweepstakes scam has a new twist 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Outside of law enforcement, Publisher’s Clearing House has to be one of the most impersonated organizations. We’re certain that most of us are familiar with the actual PCH. Older generations might remember the TV commercials where Ed McMahon would show up to a winner’s house with a large novelty check. More modern commercials show PCH’s Prize Patrol van showing up to congratulate the winner.

  Scammers often imitate PCH while trying to dupe their victims. Typically, scammers will use the Publisher’s Clearing House name to commit an advance fee scam. This is when a victim is told they are a PCH winner, but they need to make a payment to cover things like taxes and processing fees. If a victim does make a payment, the scammers will string the victim along with excuses for why the victim hasn’t received their prize money yet. They’ll then tell the victim that more payments need to be made and will continue this grift until the victim finally catches on.

  More recently, scammers have tried a new tactic using the PCH name in an attempt to fleece their victims, and they’re using another scam to try and accomplish that. Residents of Kentucky have said they’ve received letters telling them that they’ve won second place in the PCH Sweepstakes. Instead of telling the residents they need to make a payment to claim their prize, these scammers are including a check that will cover the cost of insurance and attorney fees.

  Of course, the checks are fraudulent and while the news report doesn’t go into detail, we imagine the victims will be asked to deposit the check in their own bank account and then pay an attorney or insurance agent chosen by the scammers. And as always, once the bank determines the check is fake, the victim will be responsible for the amount of the check to their bank while the scammers get away with the money.

  It’s actually rather easy to protect yourself from this scam. Even if you did enter the sweepstakes, keep in mind the phrase ‘no purchase necessary’. This includes things like the phony fees that scammers keep trying to inflict on their victims. When it comes to sweepstakes like this, it’s actually illegal for the sweepstakes to charge the winner to get their prize.

   
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  Geebo 9:00 am on January 2, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam, job scam ( 79 ), lottery scam ( 12 ), parking scam ( 2 ), police impersonation scam ( 61 ), police scam ( 37 )   

  Scam Round Up: Parking ticket scam and more 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Today, we’re starting off the New Year with a handful of new scams.

  ***

  Now, the police impersonation scam is nothing new. This is when scammers pose as law enforcement and threaten a victim with arrest if they don’t pay a made up fine. However, a new variation of that scam has turned up in an East Texas city.

  Residents of Navasota, Texas, have received emails that try to imitate the city’s Chief of Police. The emails are coming from a Gmail account, which should be a tip off the emails are part of a scam. The strange part of this scam is the emails are asking residents to become collection agents for the city.

  While the news report doesn’t go into great detail about the scam, we imagine that the typical police impersonation scammer is looking for money mules to do their dirty work. It seems the scammers are looking for unwitting participants in their scam to collect the phony fines from victims.

  Always be wary of unsolicited job offers. With any job offer, if an email comes from a Gmail address rather than a business address, there’s a pretty good chance the offer is a scam.

  ***

  In a small Indiana county, residents have been receiving phone calls telling victims they’ve won a prize from the Mega Millions lottery. Victims are being told they’ve won money and a truck from the nationwide lottery. It’s with the truck where the scam begins. Victims are being told they need to purchase a $500 gift card to pay the driver who is bringing the truck. Since the victim may think they’ve won a large sum of money, $500 isn’t much to pay to get a new truck. This is the advance fee scam. It is illegal to make a lottery winner pay for their prize outside of the initial ticket purchase and subsequent taxes. That’s not even taking into account that most lotteries do not give out trucks as prizes.

  According to the Mega Millions website, no representative of Mega Millions would ever call, text, or e-mail anyone about winning a prize.

  If someone is asking you to pay for a prize you supposedly won, the chances are there is no prize.

  ***

  Lastly, if you receive a parking ticket on your car, make sure it’s from the city before making any kind of payment. In Scottsdale, Arizona, residents there have been finding parking tickets on their cars. The ticket states that you can pay the fine by scanning the QR code on the ticket. After scanning the code, victims are taken to a payment website that no doubt puts the money in to the scammers’ pockets.

  According to Scottsdale police, the fake tickets do not contain what parking law has been supposedly broken. Nor do the tickets have any kind of citation number.

  This is becoming an issue around the country as these parking ticket scams have been popping up all over, including a recent arrest in Santa Cruz, California.

  If you receive a parking ticket with a QR code on it, call the city to verify whether the ticket is bogus or not.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on November 1, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam, debt forgiveness ( 13 ), Scams ( 1,354 ), student debt ( 15 ), student loans ( 15 )   

  Student debt scammers already have your info 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Ever since the White House announced their plan to forgive a large amount of student debt, there have been numerous warnings about student debt forgiveness scammers. Everyone from the Better Business Bureau to the Federal Trade Commission and even the Office of the President have issued these warnings. Unfortunately, these warnings have not stopped the scammers. They’re still out there in full force, and now seemed to be armed with even more information about you than before.

  According to a report from the BBB, student debt scammers have more of your personal information than ever. The scammers are using this information about their victims to make their scam seem more legitimate. In many scams, the scammers will call people at random and hope they’re a fit for their scheme. But now, the scammers are specifically targeting people they know have student loan debt.

  Potential victims have been receiving calls where the scammers know their email addresses, the schools they attended, and the last four digits of their Social security number. In some instances, the scammers even knew the victim’s Federal Student Aid account information. It’s unknown where the scammers are getting this information, but typically, this information is gained when some service the victim has used has had a data breach.

  In this latest incarnation of the scam, scammers are promising they can relieve more debt than the government program is promising. Victims will be asked for payment by the scammers to supposedly start the forgiveness process, but in reality, they’re just after the victim’s money. Some victims have been asked to pay in multiple monthly payments.

  Again, the best way to prevent yourself from falling victim to this scam is to remember that the government is not going to call you to start the debt forgiveness process. You have to reach out to them. Also, you do not have to pay any money to initiate the process. No one can get you more debt forgiven for more money.

  If you have more concerns or questions, you can read more about student debt forgiveness scams at the Federal Student Aid website.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 11, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam, bitcoin ( 31 ), Cash App ( 42 ), cryptocurrency ( 50 ), investment scams ( 10 ), Scams ( 1,354 ), toilet paper   

  Scam victim ends up with a briefcase full of toilet paper 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Opinions differ on whether cryptocurrencies are scams themselves, but due to the decentralized nature of crypto, it is vulnerable to scams. Not only that, but the get-rich-quick possibility that some see in cryptocurrencies leave them vulnerable to scams as well.

  One of the more popular crypto scams lately is a form of advance fee scam. Typically, scammers have been finding their victims on dating platforms. The victim is told the person they’ve matched with works for a financial company, and they can guarantee a profit if the victim invests in cryptocurrency. The catch is that the person they’ve just met will invest the money for them.

  After the victim gives the scammer money, the victim is later told that his initial investment has multiplied. However, in order to cash out, the victim needs to make another payment for ‘processing fees’ or some other made up charge. It’s usually at this point that the victim realizes they’ve been scammed.

  That’s not exactly what happened to a 26-year-old Colorado man, but he fell for a similar crypto scam, and ended up with an insulting consolation prize. The invested $23,000 on what he thought was a legitimate crypto investment he found on Instagram. The victim paid the money to the scammers through Cash App and Bitcoin.

  After a while, the victim received a briefcase that was supposed to contain the return on his investment of $210,000. But he was also told that he needed to pay $9000 to get the combination to the briefcase, which he did. Once the briefcase was opened, it contained nothing but books and toilet paper.

  The cryptocurrency market attracts countless con artists, and their favorite way to advertise is on social media. They almost always promise a guaranteed return in any investment made. In truth, no one can guarantee a profitable investment. This goes for investments in traditional financial markets as well. Anyone who says they can, is just selling you a bill of goods.

  Cryptocurrency should only be invested in if you’re familiar with the cryptocurrency market. Even then, as with most investments, you should only invest what you can afford to lose. Otherwise, you’re just gambling to pay the bills.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 5, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam, identity theft ( 105 ), imposter scam ( 3 ), impostor scam ( 15 ), lottery scam ( 12 ), Scams ( 1,354 )   

  Lottery winners are not giving away money 

  

  By Greg Collier

  The lottery winner scam is reportedly making the rounds again. If you’re unfamiliar with this scam, scammers will claim to be someone who won one of the major lottery prizes in the country. The scammers will use the names of real lottery winners to make the scam seem more legitimate.

  The scammers will then text, email, or send a private message to their potential victims telling them that they’re giving away part of their winnings. Typically, the offer is for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The messages also include articles that show the news of the actual lottery winner.

  The scammers are usually after one of two things. The first is personal and financial information. They may ask for your banking information in the guise of sending you the money. They may also ask for identifying information, such as a copy of your driver’s license. This leads to either the victim’s identity being stolen or their bank account being hijacked.

  The other thing these scammers are usually after is your money. After promising victims all this money, the scammers will try to get money out of the victim by saying that some form of taxes or processing fees need to be paid first. This is known as the advance fee scam and is quite common when it comes to lottery and sweepstakes scams.

  While there are legitimate lottery winners who have been generous with their winnings, they do not hand out hundreds of thousands of dollars to random people. The logistics and legal wranglings of doing so would be a procedural nightmare to say the least.

  As with most giveaway scams, it’s good to keep two sayings in mine. ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’, and ‘If it seems too good to be true, it probably is’.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on September 20, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam, cash flipping ( 8 ), cryptocurrency ( 50 ), identity theft ( 105 ), inmate scam ( 4 ), lawsuit ( 47 ), money-flipping ( 4 ), prison ( 4 ), Scams ( 1,354 ), social media ( 79 ), TikTok ( 10 ), veterans ( 8 )   

  Scam Round Up: New scam targets veterans and more 

  

  By Greg Collier

  This week in the Round Up, we’re bringing you three scams that might not be affecting you now, but you should be aware of.

  ***

  Our first scam has to be more than distressing to its victims. Scammers are targeting the families of inmates who are incarcerated in a county jail in Alabama. The scammers are posing as jail employees, telling the families that their family member has died in custody, when it isn’t true.

  From what we’ve researched, this is not a common scam, but has happened before. However, we couldn’t find any information on what the scam is hoping to achieve, since the scammers have not asked for any kind of payment. If we had to hazard a guess, we’d say this might be some kind of identity theft ploy.

  According to the local sheriff’s department, if an inmate were to die in custody, the family would be informed by the coroner’s office. If you have a family member who is incarcerated, you may want to find out what the procedure is for that jurisdiction.

  Sadly, this is not the only scam the family’s of inmates have to worry about. They are often targeted by scammers who promise their family member better privileges or an early release. These scams often ask for money. Someone receiving these offers should always check with the institution first to see if these programs are actually available, and should never give anyone their personal information over the phone.

  ***

  It always seems like social media has a never-ending stream of scams to deal with. It also seems that the short-form video platform TikTok is no exception. Lately, they’ve been dealing with a string of videos where scammers claim they can help you make a profit investing in cryptocurrency.

  The videos usually have someone flaunting stacks of cash or other signs of wealth while promising to make the viewer money. However, this is just a variation of the money flipping scam that has plagued Instagram. The scammers will promise they can get viewers thousands of dollars if they just send the scammer a few hundred.

  The scammers end up keeping the money sent to them and often ask victims for more money using promises of returning even more profit to the victim.

  Cryptocurrency on its own is already flush with scammers. Unless you know the cryptocurrency market intimately and can afford to lose an investment, you shouldn’t let other people invest in it for you, especially people you don’t know personally.

  ***

  Recently, an act was passed into law that allows U.S. veterans and their family to sue the government if they were exposed to toxic burn pits at military bases. The Better Business Bureau is reporting that scammers are using this new law to their advantage by promising veterans and their families they can sue the government for them. Once they get the veteran’s money and information, the scammers disappear.

  Another scam targeting veterans is one where the scammers are posing as Veterans Affairs. Again, the scammers are after the veteran’s personal information for identity theft purposes.

  The VA recommends that if you received unsolicited communication from someone claiming to be from the VA, you should contact the VA through their website. You can also find if you’re eligible under the new law here.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on September 12, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam, debt forgiveness ( 13 ), Scams ( 1,354 ), student debt ( 15 ), student loans ( 15 )   

  Student debt scammers now using robocalls 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Once again, the scammers have wasted no time in trying to fleece people who may be eligible for the government’s student debt forgiveness program. In this latest iteration of the scam, scammers are using robocalls to try to find victims. It’s being reported that in the Indianapolis area, residents are receiving phone calls and voicemails about student debt relief.

  One Indiana resident says they received a voicemail that told them they were pre-qualified for student loan forgiveness, with the possibility of having their entire loan discharged. The resident was told to act fast because their status may expire soon. The caller even left their name.

  When the resident called the number from the voice mail, he asked for the person who left the message. He was told that person worked in marketing. The representative then asked her if he had any questions about the program. He asked who they were, and he was given a generic bank name that is used by several different banks across the country. When he asked if there was a charge for the bank’s assistance, he was told there could be fees.

  However, the scammers had called the wrong person. Not only did the Indianapolis resident not have any student loans, but he’s also the news director for a local station. When he told the representative it’s free to apply for the government program, they hung up.

  Scammers use robocalls to cast the widest net possible to try to find just a handful of victims. They don’t actually know whether someone they call has student debt or not.

  As we and others have been warning since these scams started, anyone calling you from out of the blue about student loan forgiveness is probably a scammer. When the application process starts next month, the government will not reach out to you. The forgiveness process will not be automatically applied to your student debt. Anyone who is eligible will need to apply on their own.

  If you have any further questions about the student debt relief program, you can go to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on the Federal Government’s Student Aid website. They also have a section about scams.