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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 25, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam ( 45 ), church, fake clergy, police impersonation scam ( 64 ), Publishers Clearing House ( 11 ), scam reporting, Scams ( 1,373 ), sweepstakes ( 25 ), traffic tickets ( 3 ), USA.gov   

  Scam Round Up: Where to report a scam and more 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Scammers in Modesto, California, are preying upon Spanish-speaking residents by posing as clergy from the local Catholic diocese. These scammers are allegedly charging families up to $2000 for baptisms, confirmations, and first communions.

  Some scam victims may be afraid to come forward due to their immigration status. However, police have urged residents to come forward by reassuring them they won’t be asked their current status.

  ***

  Police in Evanston, Illinois are warning residents there about a police impersonation scam happening in their area. According to the Evanston PD, scammers are calling residents and telling them they owe money for traffic tickets.

  As with all police impersonation scams, real police will never call you and ask for money over the phone, nor will they threaten you with arrest for not paying.

  If you receive a call like this, hang up, and call your local police department at their non-emergency number.

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  An elderly woman from Western New York received a letter that appeared to come from Publisher’s Clearing House, telling her she won $2.6 million. Thankfully, she caught on quickly that it was a scam. The letter asked her to pay $4000 in insurance to ensure she would receive the $2.6M check.

  This is known as the advance fee scam, and PCH has always been imitated in these scams. Keep in mind, it doesn’t cost anything to enter sweepstakes like this. That’s why they always say no purchase necessary.

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  Lastly, the Federal Government has set up a new website that will help consumers report scams. Anyone can go to USA.gov and answer a quick series of questions. The tool will advise the user where to report a particular type of scam.

  For example, we answered that we were inquiring about identity theft regarding our tax return, and it directed us to the proper department of both the IRS and FBI to report the scam.

  Related Video: Kenmore woman doesn’t fall for $2.6 million scam prize letter posing as Publishers Clearing House

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on September 1, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: arrest warrant ( 26 ), church, impersonation scam ( 146 ), police scam ( 37 ), Scams ( 1,373 )   

  Your church isn’t calling to arrest you 

  

  By Greg Collier

  One of the more common scams is the police impersonation scam. As you can probably guess, this is when scammers spoof the police’s phone number and try to convince you that there’s a warrant out for your arrest. The scammers will then pressure you into making a payment over the phone that they claim will make the warrant go away. Usually, they’ll ask for payment in nontraditional and untraceable means, like gift cards or cryptocurrency. It seems that people aren’t exactly picking up phone calls that purport to be from their local police department as much as they used to. Recently, scammers have changed one of their tactics to get their victims to answer the phone.

  In the Springfield area of Missouri, scammers have taken to spoofing the number of a local church to try to get their targets to answer the phone. Churches are no stranger to being used as part of a scam. Often, scammers will send out emails posing as a priest or pastor asking their congregation to buy them gift cards. However, in this instance, the scammers are still posing as police to threaten victims with arrest. While police are allowed to use a certain level of deception when conducting an investigation, It would be a huge PR nightmare for them if they posed as a church to make threatening phone calls.

  The arrest warrant scam at its heart preys on people’s lack of knowledge on how arrests actually work. No law enforcement agency is ever going to call you on the phone if you have a warrant out for your arrest. You might receive a notification in the mail, but more than likely you’ll be visited by the police in person. So, even if your church seems to be calling you, you can’t be arrested over the phone.

  We wonder how long it will be before scammers are able to spoof the numbers of your immediate family members. Once they can do that, almost no phone call will be able to be trusted.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on May 23, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: church, dmv ( 2 ), gift cards ( 101 ), romance scam ( 70 ), Scams ( 1,373 )   

  Even your church can be scammed! 

  

  Once again, we’re here to bring you the latest in scams that you should look out for.

  This week, we start off with a scam that has affected a number of churches in America. The latest area to be hit with this scam is Fargo, North Dakota where parishioners have been receiving messages claiming to be their local priest. The messages sent through an app designed to inform churchgoers of church news has been hijacked and is asking for donations to be made through gift cards. Any kind of transaction asked to be made through gift cards are usually a scam as the gift cards can be virtually untraceable.

  Our next scam is another romance scam that cast a very wide net. According to the Des Moines Register, someone took out a print ad with their paper claiming to be a 57-year-old man looking for someone to marry. However, the same as has appeared in several other newspapers across the country. As with most romance scams, this ad was more than likely placed with the hope of trying to con money out of a vulnerable victim. The Register pulled the ad after they investigated the source of the ad.

  Lastly, in North Carolina, the State Attorney General is warning people there not to fall for phony DMV sites. He says that there are websites popping up that mimic the DMV’s official website. These sites could either be offering services for a fee that the DMV does for free or they could be trying to steal your personal information. You should always use your state’s official DMV website which usually has a ‘.gov’ address.