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  • Geebo 8:00 am on August 29, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , identity theft, , ,   

    Are there more student loan forgiveness scams on the horizon? 

    Are there more student loan forgiveness scams on the horizon?

    By Greg Collier

    Student loan forgiveness scams are nothing new. However, experts are warning that we’re about to see a drastic increase in them. This is because the White House recently announced a debt forgiveness plan that will assist many in reducing or eliminating their student loan debt. But with any form of government assistance comes two things, confusion and red tape. It’s the confusion that will bring all manner of scammers out of the shadows.

    In the past, student debt scammers have texted, emailed, and called their victims offering to help reduce the remainder of the victim’s loan. Some scammers have even taken to social media messaging to try to lure victims into a false sense of security. Legitimate debt forgiveness programs will not contact you. You will have to contact them.

    There are a number of scams that these con artists can pull on a victim. There’s the advance fee scam, where the scammers will ask for an upfront payment before assisting someone. In reality, they’re just after the payment. If you qualify for the new student loan relief program, there is no fee associated with it. If someone promises they can help you get the government’s debt relief and asks for a fee, they’re trying to steal your money.

    Then there’s identity theft. Some scammers will be out to get your personal and financial information rather than a payment. It’s especially important not to give your Federal Student Aid ID to anyone who solicits you with an offer of assistance. This information can be used to steal your identity and could end up adding more debt than just your student loans.

    One of the best ways to protect yourself from these scams is to not accept offers from random strangers on the internet. You can also better protect yourself by not only learning if you qualify for the new program, but how the process works as well. CNBC has a great article on eligibility for the program, but you can also go to the Federal Government’s Student Aid website for further information.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on August 1, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , identity theft, , Mega Millions,   

    Lottery scams in the wake of record jackpot 

    Lottery scams in the wake of record jackpot

    By Greg Collier

    We’re sure many of you have heard about the $1.3 billion dollar lottery jackpot that happened this past Friday. A single ticket bought in the Chicago area matched all the numbers in the Mega Millions lottery drawing. However, even if a lottery player matches several numbers, they can still win a substantial prize. This is what scammers are now using to prey on their victims.

    In the state of Connecticut, scammers are calling potential victims while posing as the state’s lottery commission. The callers are telling residents that they’ve won a lottery prize. The resident is then asked for personal information like their Social Security number. More than likely, this is done so the scammers can commit identity theft.

    Keep in mind that if you do play the lottery, even occasionally, you need to claim the prize yourself. In most cases, the state doesn’t know who has won a lottery. They only know where the winning ticket was purchased. Just think about how many stories there have been where a lottery winner never claimed their prize.

    This isn’t the only lottery scam out there. Another popular lottery scam is the advance fee scam. In this scam, the scammers tell a victim they’ve won a lottery or sweepstakes, but they need to pay a tax or processing fee before claiming their prize. The scammers will continue to ask the victim for more money, claiming there are problems with the delivery of the prize.

    There is also the impersonation scam, where scammers claim they’re famous lottery winners who are giving some of their winnings away. In this scam, the scammers will either text or send messages on social media using the names of legitimate lottery winners. The victims are then instructed to click on a link which will help them claim their gift. Victims have reported giving scammers their Social Security numbers along with their driver’s license information. Other victims have reported losing money when asked for processing fees and taxes.

    If you ever receive a text message, phone call, or social media message saying that you’ve won money, you have every right to be skeptical. Because, in the end, it could end up costing you money instead.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 24, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: identity theft, , , , ,   

    Text scam affects the unemployed 

    Text scam affects the unemployed

    By Greg Collier

    It’s no secret the economy is in disarray. It’s affecting those collecting unemployment harder, since unemployment payments aren’t going as far as they used to. That’s not even considering that unemployment benefits aren’t sustainable for most recipients to begin with. Of course, leave it to scammers to try to take from those who have very little to give.

    We’ve seen reports from two states, West Virginia and South Carolina, who have reported residents who have received text messages that appear to come from each states’ unemployment division. However, the text messages in both states are identical.

    The text message says, “Your Back-to-work payment of $4,200.00 is now available, click on to receive payment.” The URL in the text messages are disguised to look like the message came from a .gov address, but if you look closer, you can see the address actually ends in .com. If someone were to click the link, they would be taken to a website that looks like the state’s unemployment website. That website asks the recipient to enter their personal details. This could lead to identity theft or having their unemployment benefits stolen.

    Since this scam is occurring in at least two states, it could be only a matter of time before it’s in all states. If you’ll recall, the previous unemployment scam that occurred during lockdown swept across the country like wildfire.

    To our knowledge, no state is offering a ‘back-to-work’ payment through their unemployment divisions. The scammers are trying to convince their victims that state governments are issuing additional economic impact payments, like the federal government issued last year.

    If you receive a text like this, it’s advised to delete the message and not click on any links contained in the message. If you’ve already given your information to an unemployment scammer, you should contact your state’s unemployment office right away to let them know.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 21, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , identity theft, , ,   

    Scammers accuse victim of money laundering 

    Scammers accuse victim of money laundering

    By Greg Collier

    A woman from Rochester, Minnesota, recently lost thousands of dollars to scammers. It started when the woman received a robocall that claimed to be from Amazon. The recording said that she had been charged for several Amazon purchases, and to press 1 if she did not make them. After she pressed 1, someone claiming to be an Amazon representative spoke to her. The caller said that they would speak to her bank about the charges.

    Not too long after that call, the woman received another call from someone claiming to be with the Federal Trade Commission. This caller told her that her identity had been stolen. The caller told the woman to protect her money, she would need to withdraw the money from her bank account. However, she was told not to contact police, or she could be accused of money laundering. She was then instructed to deposit the money into a Bitcoin ATM that was at a gas station. The victim lost $7,000 in total.

    This scam has a lot of moving parts, but each one is a red flag if you know what to look for. For example, Amazon does not call customers about fraudulent charges. Even on Amazon’s own help page, they say that if you received any communication about a charge you didn’t make, it likely didn’t come from Amazon. If you receive any communication like this, first check your Amazon account for any fraudulent charges. If there are any fraudulent charges, you can dispute them with Amazon, but you need to make first contact. Amazon will not call you.

    While the FTC is a branch of the Department of Justice, they typically do not call consumers to let them know they’ve been a victim of identity theft. Unfortunately, identity theft is usually only detected by the victim and not law enforcement. Also, no government or law enforcement agency will ever call you and threaten you with arrest while supposedly trying to assist you. If someone tells you to not contact the police, your best bet is to contact the police immediately.

    Lastly, no government entity is going to ask you to move your money to Bitcoin, especially if the Bitcoin ATM is at a gas station. While cryptocurrencies may have gained a modicum of mainstream acceptance, it’s nowhere near the point where the government is using it as a consumer protection platform.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on May 12, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , identity theft, , , , ,   

    Scam Round Up: Homeless victim loses savings in scam and more 

    By Greg Collier

    In this week’s round up, we have an update on a recent scam, a reminder of a grim scam, and a heartbreaking story on how heartless scammers are.

    ***

    You may remember a story from our last Scam Round Up where teachers in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area were being targeted in a jury duty scam. More recently, this scam moved westward and is now targeting teachers from the Cleveland, Ohio area, with at least one teacher falling victim to the scam.

    This is where scammers pose as local police and tell their victims they missed jury duty and a warrant is about to be issued for their arrest. However, a payment over the phone will supposedly resolve the matter.

    Much like in the Pittsburgh scam, scammers are calling schools in the Cleveland area asking for specific teachers and threatening them with arrest. One teacher is said to have lost $2000 to these scammers.

    Again, when it comes to jury duty, all communication is done through postal mail and not over the phone.

    ***

    In Upstate New York, police there are warning residents about a scam affecting the families of the recently deceased. Scammers are calling these families posing as an actuarial company claiming there’s been a data breach of the deceased’s information. The families are then asked for personal identifying information of the deceased.

    In this instance, scammers are likely trying to commit identity theft. They want to do things like open credit cards or take out loans in the deceased’s name before the credit companies update their record.

    If you were ever to receive a phone call like this, the best thing to do is to ask for them to send a request in writing. While not a guarantee, this does go a long way on discouraging these kinds of scammers.

    ***

    If that story wasn’t disturbing enough, a homeless woman from Florida was recently taken for over $1000 in a rental scam. After saving up enough money for her and her newborn baby to rent a home, she responded to an online real estate ad. She was texted by the supposed landlord, who asked her to pay a $75 application fee over Zelle. She was told she couldn’t see the property for a few days since it was currently occupied. Then she was asked by the supposed landlord to send $1049 for the first month’s rent. Fearing she might not get the home, she sent the money.

    Anytime a prospective landlord can’t show the property for whatever reason, there’s a good chance they’re not really the landlord.

    ***

    We hope that our readers never have to deal with scammers like this. But if you do, we hope we’ve prepared you enough to detect them.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 8, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , identity theft,   

    Victim loses $25K to disturbing bank scam 

    Victim loses $25K to disturbing bank scam

    By Greg Collier

    A woman from Waco, Texas, recently lost $25,000 to scammers who were posing as her bank’s fraud department. The victim was asked by the caller if she had made a $25,000 advance from her account. The victim replied she hadn’t and was given instructions on how to move the $25,000 to keep the money from being lost. What the victim actually did was move the money from her account into the account of the scammer. Some may ask, why would anybody allow their money to be taken like that? When you see how the scammers convinced the victim to do so, you may then think that anyone could have fallen for this scam.

    The scammers convinced the victim that they were calling from the bank by reciting the victim’s transaction history to her. According to the victim, she didn’t give the scammers any personal information. The scammers were said to have already been in possession of the victim’s account number. We wondered how the scammers were able to obtain the victim’s account number and transaction history like that. According to security experts, scammers can spoof the victim’s phone number when calling the victim’s bank. This allows the scammers to get the victim’s account number and partial transaction history without needing any additional authentication. When a scammer is armed with that kind of information, it wouldn’t be difficult to get almost anyone to fall for that scam.

    The best way to protect yourself from such a scam is to end the call, and then calling your bank’s customer service number on the back of your debit card. Even if the caller ID said the call was coming from your bank, don’t take it at face value. Scammers often spoof the bank’s phone number to make the call seem more convincing. Also keep in mind that if there had been fraudulent activity on your bank account, your bank can usually correct the matter on their end. They typically don’t have you close an account and open a new one to protect you from fraud. That is fraud in itself.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 4, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , identity theft, , , , ,   

    Instagram scam promises free iPhone 

    Instagram scam promises free iPhone

    By Greg Collier

    Not too long ago, we brought you a post about how an Instagram scam could hijack your account. As we mentioned then, there are no shortages of scams on the popular photo sharing platform. Recently, one of those scams rose above the others to garner some headlines.

    CNET is reporting an iPhone giveaway scam is currently plaguing Instagram users. If you use Instagram on a consistent basis, you may have seen one of these scam posts. Users are being tagged by what are essentially spam accounts. These posts promise you a free iPhone 13 and all you need to do is click the link in the tagger’s profile. According to CNET, if you click the link, you’ll be taken to a website where you’ll be asked for your personal information and a credit or debit card number.

    While the CNET article does not go into specifics, we believe this could be one of two scams. The first one is straight up identity theft. With your personal and financial information, scammers could easily take over your life. Not only could identity thieves use your card for fraudulent purchase, but they could also use your information to take out loans or open other lines of credit.

    The other scam could be the advance fee scam. This is where a user is told they’ve won something, but have to pay a fee to collect their prize. This is a common scam when it comes to online giveaways. The scammers will disguise the payments as shipping fees, insurance for the item, or some form of tax. While this practice is illegal in the United States for legitimate sweepstakes, scammers aren’t concerned with the law.

    The best way to avoid this scam is to not expect anything for free on social media. Never click the links that these scam Instagram accounts provide. Furthermore, never give your personal information to random Instagram accounts, no matter how good the prize their offering is. Lastly, you can set your Instagram account to only be tagged by people you know or people you follow. You can also set it to where users can manually approve each tag they receive. The CNET article has the instructions for that.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 24, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , identity theft, , , ,   

    The other victims of romance scams 

    By Greg Collier

    Typically, when we discuss romance scams, or catfishing as it’s sometimes known, we talk about the victim who ended up losing money to these scammers. However, there’s sometimes another victim in these scams. In romance scams, the scammers often use the photos of actual people and in some cases even impersonate that person. This could lead not only to unnecessary grief for the person being impersonated, but it also has serious safety implications as well.

    A woman from the Scottsdale area of Arizona found herself in the middle of one of these scams. She suddenly started receiving emails at her business, before receiving phone calls at home about a man who was allegedly threatening to show up at her home or business. The man claimed that they had been dating online for months and that he flew from New York to see her. A romance scammer had tricked the man using the woman’s identity into thinking he was in a relationship. It’s believed that the man had given the scammer a substantial amount of money. According to reports, the scammers cut off communication with the man once he landed in Arizona.

    According to the Scottsdale woman, the New York man had trouble accepting that he had been scammed and directed his anger toward her. She claims the man has been leaving voice messages on her phone from multiple phone numbers. She has no idea what the man even looks like.

    Since the woman is a business owner who deals in social media, she has a large social media presence. This allowed the scammers to essentially copy her life and use her online identity in their scam.

    To better protect yourself from not only being in this side of a romance scam, but from other scams as well, it’s best to change your social media profiles to private or friends only. While it’s not a guarantee your online photos won’t be used in a scam, It does help in discouraging scammers from doing so.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 23, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , identity theft, , violent crime   

    Crime victim’s family taken advantage of by scammers 

    Crime victim's family taken advantage of by scammers

    By Greg Collier

    Today, we’re going to discuss a scam that doesn’t happen to everyone. We wish it didn’t have to happen to anyone. However, it once again shows just how low scammers will sink to try to take advantage of someone during a time of crisis.

    The death of a loved one is never easy. Losing a loved one to violent crime is even more difficult, to say the least. Now imagine having that happen to you, and then a con artist tries to use your loved one in one of their scams.

    That’s what happened to a woman living in Atlanta who recently lost her adult son to violent crime. As she was grieving for her son, she received a phone call from someone claiming to be with Atlanta Victim Assistance. The caller told the woman that she would receive $6500 from the organization to help pay for her son’s funeral. The caller asked her for her son’s personal information, such as his Social Security number. The grieving mother realized she may have spoken to a scammer when she spoke with the actual Atlanta Victim Assistance office. They told her that they only request that information after a family applies for funds.

    So why would someone try to get the personal information of a man who is deceased? As horrible as it is to say, the recently deceased can be prime targets for identity theft. An identity thief can potentially use that person’s identity for months before credit agencies and the like are notified of the victim’s passing. This is not unlike how identity thieves will steal the identities of minors and use their identity for years before any fraudulent activity is discovered.

    Security experts recommend that you notify the IRS, the Social Security Administration, and the major credit reporting agencies of your loved one’s passing to avoid having their identity stolen. It’s also recommended to try to limit the amount of personal information used in an obituary, as these often contains enough information for identity thieves to start their scheming.

    It’s a shame that this is what the world has come to, but hopefully, you’re now somewhat prepared if an unfortunate event like this happens to someone you know.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 3, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: book exchange, gift exchange, identity theft, ,   

    Social media book drive is anything but 

    Social media book drive is anything but

    By Greg Collier

    A new gift exchange has been circulating around social media. This time, instead of holiday presents, you’re expected to exchange books. On the surface, this may seem like a great idea, since many of us have books that we’ve read that are taking up space. Plus, it’s a great feeling when you get to share a book you love with a new reader. The best part is that this exchange is relatively free, since many of us have an excess of books already. How could this possibly a bad thing?

    You may see a post or a message on social media that come from a trusted friend who recommends this book exchange. All you have to do is provide your name and email address, along with the names and email addresses of a few of your friends. Then you’re asked to send a book to someone who already signed up for the exchange, and in return, you’re supposed to receive 36 books.

    If this sounds familiar to you, it may be because it sounds exactly like the Secret Sister Gift Exchange or the Blessing Loom scheme. They’re all pyramid schemes, and in the book exchange scheme instead of money, the schemers are more than likely looking for your personal information for future identity theft. Keep in mind, even if it’s just books being exchanged, pyramid schemes are still illegal in the United States. If you recruit others into the scheme, you could potentially face legal action.

    Even if the exchange seems to be for a good cause with a good return, the odds are, you’re not getting any books. Pyramid schemes are designed to only benefit those at the top of the pyramid. After a couple of levels, the giving stops abruptly and the lower tiers are left with nothing. On top of it, you’ve potentially exposed the information about you and your friends to complete strangers.

     

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