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  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 26, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , police scam,   

    The most common scams are the worst 

    The most common scams are the worst

    By Greg Collier

    The most common scams are also the most profitable scams. The reason scammers keep committing these scams is that victims keep falling for them. As we research the news for the latest information about scams, there’s one scam we continually see on an almost daily basis. If we were asked, we’d probably say that the most common scam in this country is the jury duty scam.

    The scam is almost elegant in its simplicity. Many of us grew up being told that if we miss jury duty, you can be arrested. Scammers take that one kernel of truth and twist the reality around it to make their scam seem so plausible.

    For example, a woman from the Houston-area of Texas almost fell victim to one of these scams. She received a phone call that appeared to come from a local phone number. The man on the other line spoke with a Texas accent and claimed to be from the Sheriff’s Office. He informed the woman that she had missed jury duty. The caller gave the woman three options to rectify the matter. She could either go to the Sheriff’s Office and be held in custody for 8-10 hours, have a warrant issued for her arrest, or drive to a nearby address with $900 in cash.

    This scammer is good at what he does. His threats for not paying the cash are more of an inconvenience than life and death stakes, making the scam seem more believable. As well as only asking for $900, as that can appear to seem like a reasonable court cost to many. However, I think he overplayed his hand by asking the woman to go to an address with cash that I’m guessing wasn’t the Sheriff’s Office.

    While the woman admitted that the scam seemed very real, she did not fall victim to it. Her husband contacted a lawyer friend of his, who told them it was a scam.

    Our point is that just because a scam is common doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone has heard of it. We deal with this subject every day, so we know. You read our posts, so you know. But there are so many more people out there who don’t.

    The only thing the others are missing is just a small amount of knowledge to protect them from that scam. And that knowledge is police departments don’t call citizens to threaten them with arrest over jury duty. Everything concerning jury duty is typically done by the postal mail. That includes missing jury duty. So if you haven’t received anything in the mail about jury duty, you’re not on the verge of bring arrested.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 20, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , police scam,   

    The latest twist on the police impersonation scam 

    The latest twist on the police impersonation scam

    By Greg Collier

    Law enforcement officers and agents are arguably the people most imitated by scammers. Most people either have a certain respect for or a fear of the police. So, it seems almost an obvious choice for scammers to impersonate police to get their victims to do what they want.

    We’ve discussed many of these police impersonation scams before. The two most common police impersonation scams are the jury duty scam and the arrest warrant scam. Actually, they’re both the same scam. In the jury duty scam, the scammers will call their victims to tell them they’ve missed jury duty. The victims are then instructed to make a payment over the phone or a warrant will be issued for their arrest. In the arrest warrant scam, the scammers just say that there is a warrant out for the victim’s arrest, although a payment could make the warrant go away.

    When these scammers ask, or in some cases, demand payment, they usually ask the victim to pay through untraceable means. These usually include payment apps like Venmo and Zelle, prepaid debit cards like Green Dot, cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, and of course, gift cards.

    King City, on the Central Coast of California, has reported that scammers are posing as one of their detectives in a police impersonation scam. However, the scammer isn’t threatening their victims with arrest. In this case, the scammer says that they’re investigating a case where the victim’s identity has been stolen. The victim is then instructed by the phony detective to move all their money from the bank to a Bitcoin account to clear their identity. In reality, the money goes into the scammer’s Bitcoin wallet, and they make off with the victim’s money.

    This scam isn’t just limited to your local police department, either. In the past, we have seen scammers pose as the FBI, the DEA, Homeland Security, and Border Patrol just to name a few. However, you can protect yourself from this scam with just one important piece of knowledge. No law enforcement office or agency will ever demand payment for anything over the phone.

    If you ever receive one of these phone calls, try to give the caller as little information as possible and tell them you’ll call them back. Don’t let them keep you on the phone. Then call your local police department and inform them of the call.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 23, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , police scam,   

    Scam Round Up: The free piano scam and more 

    Scam Round Up: The free piano scam and more

    By Greg Collier

    This week in the Scam Round Up, we have the reemergence of an old scam, a new twist on an old scam, and scam we’ve not heard of until now.

    ***

    As our readers know, gift cards are being used in all manner of scams. Often, the advice about gift cards is to only use them for gifts. But even then, you can still be scammed. In Centennial, Colorado, a woman purchased a gift card in the amount of $500. However, no funds appeared on the card. A scammer had replaced the barcode on the back of the gift card with sticker. The sticker had a barcode that redirected the $500 to a card the scammer had bought. When buying gift cards, check the card for tampering before taking it to the register. You should also take the cards from the middle of the stack as they are less likely to be tampered with.

    ***

    Another scam our readers should be aware of is the arrest warrant scam. This is where scammers will pose as your local police department or sheriff’s office. Typically, the scammers call their victims and threaten the victims with arrest. In the majority of cases, the scammers will say that the victim missed jury duty, but other fake infractions have also been used. The scammers tell the victim that they can avoid arrest by paying a fine over the phone. Again, scammers usually ask for these payments in gift cards.

    One county in Northeastern Pennsylvania is receiving these threats in the mail instead of over the phone. The letters appear to be an arrest warrant from a federal court. The letter also says the arrest is on hold for 24 hours and can be avoided by purchasing gift cards.

    As always, no law enforcement agency in the United States accepts gift cards as payment.

    ***

    Lastly, we have the scam we’ve not heard of before which is saying something. It’s called the free piano scam. Have you ever seen an online ad for a free piano? They’re out there. It seems really plausible when someone says they have a piano that no one uses, and they just want to get rid of it. As with most things that are too good to be true, there’s a catch. If the seller says that the piano is on a moving truck and the buyer needs to contact the moving company, there is a scam afoot. The scam is when the moving company asks the buyer for money to have the piano shipped to them. Once the buyer sends the money, the movers disappear with the money.

    If you’re in the market for a piano and find an ad for a free one, unless you pick it up yourself, or hire your own movers, it’s best left alone.

    ***

    While these scams may not be currently appearing in your area, it could be a matter of time before they are. But now, you’ll be ready.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 17, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , police scam, , U.S. Marshals   

    Police impersonators threaten to take your children 

    By Greg Collier

    Before we get started with today’s story, we wanted to bring you an article about the ongoing Zelle scam, which you can read here. The Zelle scam is so prolific that we just wanted to remind our readers about it.

    However, our main story for the day is about police impersonation scams. This is when scammers call their victims posing as a law enforcement agency. The scammers will pose as anyone from your local police department all the way up to the FBI. These scams often have different tactics the scammers can use, but they typically have the same purpose. The scammers will threaten you with arrest over some infraction that you didn’t commit, so they can extort a payment out of you.

    When scammers pose as local police, they may tell you that you missed jury duty, or you have a warrant out for your arrest. They’ll then tell you the matter can be cleared up with a payment done over the phone. On the federal level, we’ve seen scammers pose as the FBI, Homeland Security, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In these cases, the scammers will say you’re connected with a much more serious crime, such as drug trafficking or money laundering. Again, the scammers will threaten you with arrest if a payment isn’t made at that moment.

    More recently, The U.S. Marshals have issued a warning that says scammers are posing as marshals and pulling the same impersonation scam. This time, however, the scammers are turning up the heat on their victims. The scammers are now threatening their victims not only with arrest by the U.S. Marshals, but also threatening them with losing their job and losing custody of their children. This is a scare tactic designed to keep the victim unnerved and on the phone.

    Thankfully, this scam has an easy solution. Just hang up. No legitimate law enforcement agency in the United States will ever ask for money over the phone. Neither will they call you to threaten you with arrest.

    Another way you can tell it’s a scam is if the caller asks you for payment in ways such as gift cards, pre-paid debit cards, money transfers, cryptocurrencies, or payment apps. These methods of payment are virtually untraceable and almost impossible to recover.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on March 11, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , identity protection PIN, , , , police scam, , ,   

    Scam Round Up: Protect yourself from tax scammers and more 

    By Greg Collier

    This week on the Scam Round Up, we’re bringing our readers a great tip, a new scam, and a reminder of an old scam.

    ***

    One of the more prevalent tax related scams over the past few years has been scammers filing a tax return in your name, so they can claim your refund check. Previously, we’ve recommended filing your tax return as early as possible to beat the scammers, but that isn’t always possible. However, there is another way to prevent fraudulent returns being filed in your name. The IRS has an option where you can get an identity protection PIN. This is a six-digit number that only you and the IRS know. If this number is not included on your tax return, it will not be processed by the IRS. If you’d like to know more about the identity protection PIN or apply for one, you can find more information at the IRS website.

    ***

    A Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina has recently uncovered a scam that could be affecting people nationwide. According to the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, scammers are stealing money from bank accounts where the account holder may not notice the missing money. They give estate accounts as an example. The scammers will then send a check to an unsuspecting victim asking them to deposit the check, keep a portion of it, and wire the rest overseas. The Sheriff’s Office found a man who was just getting ready to wire close to $200,000 overseas. If you have an account like an estate account, you may want to check on it periodically to make sure there are no fraudulent transactions. Also, no matter how good the promise of money may be, never deposit a check from a stranger then wire the money somewhere else. Not only could this be a fraudulent check, but you could also potentially get in legal trouble for helping to facilitate the scam.

    ***

    Lastly for today, the Border Patrol scam is making headlines again. This is where scammers will pose as agents of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Victims will receive a phone call that says Border Agents intercepted a box full of drugs and money that was supposedly being shipped to the victim. Other times, the scammers will say that a car rented in the victim’s name was found with drugs in it near the Southern Border. In either case, the scammers will threaten the victim with arrest if they don’t pay a fine. As with most modern scams, the scammers will ask for payment in non-traditional means like cryptocurrency or gift cards. Always keep in mind, no law enforcement agency will ever ask for money over the phone or threaten someone with arrest over the phone.

    ***

    We hope you found this post informative, as nobody should ever have to endure the damaging schemes of scammers.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on March 4, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , police scam, , ,   

    Scam Round Up: QR Codes, Good Samaritan scam, and more 

    Scam Round Up: QR Codes, Good Samaritan scam, and more

    By Greg Collier

    Once again, we’re bringing you a trio of scams we’ve discussed before, but now have a slight new angle to them.

    ***

    The last time we mentioned QR codes, they were being used in a parking scam in Texas. Now, the Attorney General of North Carolina is warning about QR code scams in the Tarheel State. Many businesses are using QR codes for customers to scan to see things like menus on the customer’s phone. This helps cut down on potentially coming in contact with COVID-19. The NC Attorney general is saying scammers are replacing QR codes used by businesses with stickers of the scammer’s QR code. These scam codes can take you to malicious websites that will either ask you for personal information or inject spyware on to your device which could compromise any of your online accounts. Before scanning a QR code in public, make sure the code has not been tampered with and do not download any software the QR code may instruct you to do.

    ***

    Speaking of North Carolina, for our next story we go to Charlotte where a man was scammed out of $4000 for just trying to be a good person. The man lent his phone to another man who said he needed to use the phone for an emergency. The other man made a call then said he needed to text his sister since the connection was bad. What the other man was really doing was accessing the man’s Venmo app and sending $4000 to himself. The victim didn’t realize his money was gone until two days later. If you use any payment app like Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, or PayPal, among others, there are security measures you can enable to prevent this from happen. You can enable a PIN to keep strangers out of these apps if they happen to access your phone. You can also use a fingerprint lock for devices that are equipped with a fingerprint scanner. It might be a slight inconvenience, but it will help keep thieves out of your financial accounts. And as an additional precaution, you really shouldn’t keep thousands of dollars in apps like Venmo.

    ***

    If you’re in college or even went to college, you may have imbibed in illicit indulgences. Even though it’s legal in many places now, if you engaged in that activity, running into campus police was always one of your biggest fears. In New Mexico, the substance in question is legal, if you’re older than 21. In college, age restrictions usually don’t stop those who are under the legal age limit from partaking. Now, scammers are looking to take advantage of that fear. They’re posing as the New Mexico State University Campus Police and threatening their victims by telling them that the victim is being investigated for a narcotic crime. The scammers are threatening students with arrest if they don’t comply with giving the scammer their personal information. Like any other police impersonation scam, real police will not threaten someone with arrest over the phone. If you receive one of these calls, it is recommended you hang up and call the actual police at the non-emergency number.

    ***

    As we like to tell our readers, even though these scams are not currently happening in your area, now you’re prepared if they do.

     

  • Geebo 8:01 am on September 22, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , police scam, , ,   

    Scam Round Up: Counterfeit Cash, Timeshares, and more 

    Getting scammed after being scammed

    By Greg Collier

    Here we are bringing you another handful of scams that you should be aware of.

    ***

    We start off with a scam out of the state of Delaware. A restaurant in the state’s capital, Dover, received a call from someone posing as the U.S. Marshals Service. The caller told an employee that they received complaints that the restaurant had been giving out counterfeit money as change. The caller also said that they would be at the restaurant in 30 minutes to ‘inspect the cash’. The employee was even threatened by the caller, stating they were currently watching the restaurant. The employee called the actual police instead. We’re not sure what the endgame of this scam was, but keep in mind that law enforcement will never call you to tell you what they’re investigating.

    ***

    In the state of New York, the Attorney General’s office is having to deal with scam letters that were sent out posing as the AG’s office. The letters indicate that the recipient is entitled to money due to a debt settled over the sale of timeshares. The NY Division of Consumer Protection has come out to let the public know that these letters are fraudulent, even though they contain the state seal. If we had to hazard a guess, we’d say that the scammers were probably trying to get New York residents to pay a ‘service fee’ to get their supposed pay out. This is known as the advance fee scam. If you get a letter like this and have doubts to its authenticity, call the agency at a phone number on their website and not one that’s on the letter.

    ***

    Police in Grand Island, Nebraska, are warning residents about a number of complaints they’ve received about scammers posing as employees of Apple. The scammers are telling residents that there has been suspicious activity on their Apple accounts and that they need to remotely access your computer to resolve the problem. As you can guess, once scammers have access to your computer, they can take all the information from it, including your banking info if you use your computer for that. Monolithic companies like Apple will never call you to tell you there’s a problem. The same goes for Microsoft, Facebook, and Google. If you can’t even call some of these companies, they’re not going to call you. Anyone who asks you for remote access to your computer is almost always going to be a scammer.

    ***

    While these scams might not be happening to you now, they could in the future. Hopefully, you’re now prepared to recognize them.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on September 13, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: border patrol, , police scam, ,   

    FBI: The Border Patrol is not coming to get you 

    FBI: The Border Patrol is not coming to get you

    By Greg Collier

    Previously, we’ve seen the Border Patrol scam target seniors almost exclusively. In this scam, the scammers would call up an elderly target posing as an officer from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The scammers claim that someone rented a car using the target’s identity near the Mexican Border, and the car was found with drugs in it. The target will then be informed that there’s now a warrant out for their arrest. However, the scammers will say they believe that the target’s identity has been stolen. They’ll just need a payment in some non-monetary form to supposedly secure the target’s identity. Without the payment, though, they’ll still be forced to arrest the target.

    The FBI is now warning citizens that there has been a dramatic increase in this scam, and it’s not just targeting the elderly. A reporter from Los Angeles recently received one of these calls. She knew it was a scam and played along with it anyway. It was a robocall that warned the recipient that CBP has seized a car registered under their name that contained illicit drugs. The reporter was then asked to press 1 to speak to a CBP officer. When the ‘officer’came on the line, the reporter said she knows this is a scam and wanted to know where the caller was from. The caller said he was from Afghanistan and threatened to blow up the reporter’s home. According to an FBI agent, there’s no evidence to indicate that the caller was from Afghanistan or that the threat was credible.

    As with most scams, the FBI recommends not answering phone calls from numbers you don’t recognize. In this case, the scammers used a block of numbers used by the reporter’s employer. So even if it looks like a local call, the number can be spoofed. Also, if you take a moment to think about it, the call makes less sense. No law enforcement agency is going to call someone that they’re supposedly investigating. Even if it was a case of stolen identity, and the car full of drugs existed, agents would want to speak to you in person. Lastly, you may also want to keep in mind that police or federal agents will never ask you for money over the phone.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on September 7, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , police scam, , ,   

    FBI twist added to sweepstakes scam 

    FBI twist added to sweepstakes scam

    By Greg Collier

    Police in Oregon are warning about a new rash of sweepstakes scams or advance fee scams, as they’re sometimes known. In this scam, the scammers pose as a sweepstakes company, usually Publishers Clearing House since they’re the most well-known. The victim will receive a call, text or email telling them that they’ve won a big jackpot, except they need the victim to pay them taxes or a processing fee. Also, the victim needs to keep this matter private, so the local media supposedly doesn’t find out. These scams often target the elderly and when a victim pays once, the scammers will keep coming back for more. Now, scammers are using a new tactic to make sure the victim keeps paying.

    According to a report out of Oregon, the sweepstakes scammers make the victims pay by check. Once the scammers receive that check, they’re calling the victim back, posing as the FBI. The phony investigators tell the victim that the check they wrote was fraudulent. The scammer then threatens the victim with arrest if they don’t make another payment. Essentially, the scammers are combining two scams into on, the advance fee scam and the police impersonation scam. As you probably surmised, the police impersonation scam involves scammers posing as police, usually telling the victim they have a warrant out for their arrest, and that the victim needs to pay over the phone to make the warrant go away.

    Please keep in mind that you can’t win prizes from a sweepstakes you never entered. Plus, it’s also illegal for any sweepstakes to make you pay for any prize. As far as the FBI goes, no law enforcement agency will call you on the phone asking for money and threatening you with arrest if you don’t pay. The report from Oregon gives a great tip when it comes to police impersonation phone calls. Ask the caller for their phone number and tell them that you’ll call them back after speaking with your attorney. If they try to pressure you into staying on the phone, it’s more than likely a scam.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on September 1, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , police scam,   

    Your church isn’t calling to arrest you 

    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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