Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – March 13, 2020 – New Variation on the Jury Duty Scam
I have been warning you about the jury duty scam for eight years, but it continues to snare many unwary victims. Recently, the Sheriff of Newbury County, South Carolina issued a warning about this scam and there have been increasing reports of this scam being perpetrated throughout the country. The new version of the scam starts with a telephone call that you receive purportedly from a law enforcement officer informing you that you have failed to appear for jury duty and that a warrant has been issued for your arrest. You are told, however, that you can avoid arrest and greater fines by purchasing gift cards and then sending photographs of the gift cards to the phony law enforcement officer to prove that they have been purchased. You are then told that you should then mail the gift cards to the local Clerk of Court’s office. Of course the call is a scam even though your caller ID may indicate that the call is from local law enforcement. An FBI warning two years ago about this type of scam noted that often the scammers will use a technique called “spoofing” to make the call appear on your Caller ID as if it is coming from a legitimate law enforcement agency or court. The scammer is able to get all of the information he or she needs to tap into the gift cards through the photos sent by your phone. Telling you to mail the now worthless gift cards to the local Clerk of Court’s office is done merely to make the request seem legitimate. It is also important to remember that even if you have missed jury duty, you will never be called by legitimate court officers and shaken down for a payment. It is also important to remember that no government agency accepts gift cards as payments so any time you are asked by a purported law enforcement officer, IRS agent or any other government agency employee to pay through a gift card, you can be sure it is a scam.
In another variation of the jury duty scam, when you respond that you have not missed jury duty, you are asked to provide your Social Security number for verification of your identity. In this case, the scammer is seeking your Social Security number to make you a victim of identity theft.
TIPS
Initial contacts from courts regarding jury duty are always in writing through the mail although some systems will permit you to receive future notices through email. Under no circumstances will you receive telephone calls or text messages indicating that you have failed to report for jury duty. No court will demand payment over the phone for failing to appear for jury duty and they will not ask for your Social Security number. If you do receive such a call and you think that there is even the possibility that you might have forgotten to report for jury duty, merely call the local clerk of courts in order to get accurate information. Of course anyone calling you and telling you that you can pay your fine to them over the phone is a scammer.
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Scam of the day – March 12, 2020 – FTC Issues Warning About Mystery Shopper Scams
I have written many times over the last seven years about the mystery shopper scam because it continues to ensnare unwary victims. Recently the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a new warning about this scam. Mystery shoppers are people hired to shop at a particular store and report on the shopping experience for purposes of quality control. Unlike many scams, there actually are legitimate mystery shopper companies, but they never advertise or recruit through emails, text messages or letters.
The manner in which the scam generally works is that when you answer an advertisement, or respond to a letter, email or a text message to become a mystery shopper, you are sent a bank check. You deposit the check into your own account and spend some of the money on the goods that you purchase which you are allowed to keep and also are directed to keep some of the balance of the check as payment for your services. You are instructed to return the remaining funds by a wire transfer. In a recent Walmart themed mystery shopper scam that targeted a Scamicide reader, the targeted victim was told to wire $1,225 of a $1,595 check back to the scammer. The problem is that the check or money order sent to you is counterfeit, but the money you send by wire from your bank account or through prepaid cards is real and is lost forever.
Here also is a link to a news story from ABC’s Western Mass News in which I was interviewed about this type of scam. https://www.westernmassnews.com/news/pittsfield-woman-warning-others-of-mystery-shopper-scheme/article_af658312-45ca-11e9-855b-777f943a69e1.html
TIPS
One reason why this scam fools so many people is that there really are mystery shopping jobs although the actual number is quite few and they do not go looking for you. An indication that you are involved with a scam is when you receive a check for more than what is owed you and you are asked to wire the difference back to the sender. This is the basis of many scams. Whenever you receive a check, wait for your bank to tell you that the check has fully cleared before you consider the funds as actually being in your account. Don’t rely on provisional credit which is given after a few days, but which will be rescinded once a check bounces and never accept a check for more than what is owed with the intention to send back the rest. That is always a scam. Also be wary whenever you are asked to wire funds or send gift cards because this is a common theme in many scams because it is difficult to trace and impossible to stop. Legitimate companies do not use gift cards as payments.
If you receive a mystery shopper scam solicitation or check through the mail you can report it to the United States Postal Service at
http://about.usps.com/publications/pub300a/pub300a_tech_024.htm
You also can report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which investigates these scams at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#crnt&panel1-1
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Scam of the day – March 11, 2020 – Coronavirus Phishing Email
I first told you about coronavirus phishing scams on February 8th. Today, I am warning you again and am including a copy of one of the phishing emails presently being circulated. Scammers are always taking advantage of whatever has the public attention and turn it into an opportunity to scam people. Cybercriminals are sending phishing emails in which they attempt to lure people into downloading malware infected attachments. In many instances the malware is keystroke logging malware that can steal your personal information from your phone or computer and use that information to make you a victim of identity theft. In other instances, ransomware malware is carried by the attachment. The phishing emails lure people into downloading the infected attachments by purporting to provide important information about the virus. Here is an example of one of the phishing emails presently being circulated. This phishing email was obtained by cybersecurity company Proofpoint.
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TIPS
Phishing emails are a leading cause of many scams and even major data breaches. It is relatively easy to craft a legitimate appearing email that can use a variety or pretenses to trick people into clicking on links or downloading attachments. Anytime you get an unsolicited email that asks for personal information, instructs you to click on a link or download an attachment you should be wary. Remember my motto, trust me, you can’t trust anyone. Never provide personal information, click on a link or download an attachment unless you have absolutely confirmed that the email is legitimate.
You should also make sure that your phone, computer and any other devices you may have are protected by security software and update your security software with the latest security patches as soon as they become available. It is important to remember, however, that the most up to date security software will always be at least thirty days behind the latest strains of malware so you cannot depend on your security software to be 100% effective.
There is a lot of misinformation on the Internet about the coronavirus so if you want information you can trust on this subject, you should make sure that you are going to a legitimate source such as the World Health Organization https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus It is important to note that the World Health Organization is not sending out emails like this to anyone.
Scam of the day – March 10, 2020 – Tennessee Tornado Charity Scams
Natural disasters, such as the recent series of tornadoes that struck the Nashville, Tennessee area are devastating. Natural disasters like this bring out the best in people who want to donate to charities to help the victims. Unfortunately natural disasters also bring out the worst in scammers who are quick to take advantage of the generosity of people by contacting them posing as charities, but instead of collecting funds to help the victims of the storms, these scam artists steal the money for themselves under false pretenses. Charities are not subject to the federal Do Not Call List so even if you are enrolled in the Do Not Call List, legitimate charities are able to contact you by phone. The problem is that whenever you are contacted on the phone, you can never be sure as to who is really calling you so you may be contacted either by a phony charity or a scammer posing as a legitimate charity. Similarly, when you are solicited for a charitable contribution by email or text message you cannot be sure as to whether the person contacting you is legitimate or not.
TIPS
Never provide credit card information over the phone to anyone whom you have not called or in response to an email or text message. Before you give to any charity, you may wish to check out the charity with http://www.charitynavigator.org where you can learn whether or not the charity itself is a scam. You can also see how much of the money that the charity collects actually goes toward its charitable purposes and how much it uses for fund raising and administrative costs. Charity Navigator has a listing of specific charities that it has vetted that are good choices for anyone wishing to help the victims of the Tennessee tornadoes. Among the charities recommended by Charity Navigator for the Tennessee tornadoes victims are Heart to Heart International and Good360. You can find specific information about these charities and other recommended charities at https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=7822
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Scam of the day – March 9, 2020 – Spring Break Brings Increase in Grandparent Scams
Many colleges around the country are or will soon be taking their Spring Break. The words Spring Break often conjure up images of young college students on beaches rather than thoughts about their grandparents, but for scammers, Spring Break and grandparents are a match made in heaven or perhaps hell.
Many of you are familiar with the grandparent scam where a grandparent receives a telephone call from someone purporting to be their grandchild who has gotten into some trouble, either a traffic accident, legal trouble or medical problems in a far away place. The caller pleads for the grandparent to wire some money immediately to help alleviate the problem. However the caller also begs the grandparent not to tell mom and dad. One would think that no one would be gullible enough to fall for this scam, but don’t be so hard on the victims of this scam. Scam artists, the only criminals we refer to as artists, have a knowledge of psychology of which Freud would have been envious and are able to use that knowledge to persuade their victims to send money right away. With so many college students in warmer parts of the country or even on beaches outside of the country during Spring Break, it is a perfect time for scammers to put this scam to work. Last year during Spring Break an 86 year old Arizona woman fell victim to the grandparent scam after being convinced to send four separate cash payments by Federal Express totaling more than $30,000 to a scammer posing as her granddaughter. It wasn’t until the scammer called her again and referred to her as “Grandma” that the victim realized she had been scammed since her granddaughter did not call her “Grandma.”
TIPS
Sometimes the scammers do not know the name of their victim’s grandchildren, but often they do. Sometimes they get this information from reading obituaries which may name grandchildren by name so merely because the correct name is used in the call is no reason to believe the call. Don’t respond immediately to such a call without calling the real grandchild on his or her cell phone or call the parents and confirm the whereabouts of the grandchild. If a medical problem is the ruse used, you can call the real hospital. If legal problems are the hook you can call the real police. You can also test the caller with a question that could be answered only by the real grandchild, but make sure that it really is a question that only the real grandchild could answer and not just anyone who might read the real grandchild’ s Facebook page or other social media. Also social media such as Facebook is perused by scammers looking for college students who are traveling on Spring Break to provide the scammers with information to make their calls appear more legitimate. As I always say, “trust me, you can’t trust anyone.”
Never wire money unless you are absolutely sure about to whom you are wiring the money and it is not a scam. Once you have wired money, it is gone forever. Also, students traveling abroad should register with the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ui/. This program can help with communications in an emergency situation.
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Scam of the day – March 8, 2020 – J.Crew Discloses Data Breach
Five days ago in a required filing to the California Attorney General, clothing company J. Crew revealed that it had suffered a data breach last April in which personal information of an undisclosed number of its customers was taken. The stolen customer online account information included some credit card data and other personal information. The hackers were able to access these accounts by using the usernames and passwords of customers that were harvested from other data breaches. This information is regularly sold on the Dark Web, that part of the Internet where cybercriminals buy and sell goods and services. Cybercriminals often use the information gathered in data breaches such as this to form the basis of scams that start with spear phishing emails which are phishing emails specifically tailored with information about you and your interests. These spear phishing emails will attempt to lure you into either providing personal information that can be used to make you a victim of identity theft or to click on links containing harmful malware. Everyone should be skeptical of any email asking for personal information or prompting you to click on a link. Never provide such information or click on links until you have confirmed that the email is legitimate.
TIPS
This data breach is another reminder that you should have unique usernames and strong passwords for each of your online accounts so that in the event that there is a data breach and the password for one of your accounts becomes compromised, all of your accounts will not become vulnerable to being hacked. Creating and remembering strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts is not as difficult as it may appear. You can start with a strong base password constructed from a phrase, such as IDon’tLikePasswords. Add a few symbols like !!! and then adapt it for each account you have so that you will have a secure and easy to remember password for each of your online accounts. Thus, your Amazon password could be IDon’tLikePasswords!!!AMA.
Also, whenever possible use dual factor authentication for your accounts so that when you attempt to log in, a one-time code will be sent to your cell phone to insert in order to get access to your account. For convenience sake you can set up dual factor authentication so that it is only required if you are logging in from a different computer or device than you normally use.
In addition, if you have not frozen your credit reports, this would be a good time to do so.
To get the maximum protection from identity theft, it is important to freeze your credit at each of the three major credit reporting agencies. Here are links to each of them with instructions about how to get a credit freeze:
https://www.freeze.equifax.com/Freeze/jsp/SFF_PersonalIDInfo.jsp
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze/place-credit-freeze
https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
Once you have frozen your credit, be sure to keep the PIN and information on how to unfreeze your credit report in a safe place.
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Scam of the day – March 7, 2020 – Money Mule Scams
Laundering money derived from a scam is an essential element of many scams. Scammers can be extremely clever at distancing themselves from their scams in order to avoid detection. The people they enlist either as willing participants or unknowing participants in the laundering of the proceeds of a scam are called money mules. Scams in which innocent people are lured into being unknowing money mules are numerous. One of the more common of these involves work at home scams where your job is to receive goods, often electronics that have been shipped to you, inspect them and then reship them to an address provided to you by your new employer. The problem is that these goods have been purchased with stolen credit cards and you have just become an accomplice to the crime when you ship them to someone else who will then sell them to turn the merchandise into cash. Other times the scammers will say that your job is to receive funds sent to you by the scammer, deposit the funds in your own bank account and wire the funds to people who the scammers tell you are either clients or suppliers of the scammers phony company. In another related scam, you are asked to purchase gift cards with the money sent to you and to send the gift card numbers to someone. Finally, money mules are also used is in a variation of the romance scam where you are asked by your romantic partner to wire funds to someone on behalf of the scammer on a variety of pretenses.
TIP
As always, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Check out work at home scams with the big three – your local attorney general, the Better Business Bureau and the FTC. And as always, you can Google the name of the particular company offering you the work at home program with the word “scam” next to it and see what turns up. As for reshipping goods as a work at home job, they are always a scam and you should steer clear of them. You also should never use your own bank account to transfer funds for an employer. Asking you to purchase gift card numbers and send that information to someone is also always a scam and finally, you should always be skeptical of someone with whom you have recently established an online romantic relationship who either asks you for money (the most common scam) or asks you to pass on money to a third party as directed by the scammer.
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Scam of the day – March 6, 2020 – Amazon Phishing Scam
Shopping on Amazon is extremely popular both with consumers and scammers seeking to exploit Amazon’s popularity. I have warned you many times over the years about scammers who send various types of phishing emails which purport to be from Amazon attempting to lure you into either clicking on links which can download malware, such as ransomware or providing personal information that can be used to make you a victim of identity theft.
The latest Amazon phishing scam starts with an email that appears to come from Amazon informing you that your account has been “locked” because your account has been accessed by unauthorized devices. You are prompted to verify personal information, however, if you provide the personal information, you will be providing the personal information to a scammer who will use the information to make you a victim of identity theft.
Here is a copy of the email presently being circulated
Dear xxx@comcast.net
We have lοcĸed your account because our service detected two unauthorized devices From Ireland. Our service has protected your account from someone who accessed your account from another devices and location.
Before someone can change your account information or order some item with your credit / debit card bill. For your security , We have verify your account.
Verify
Thank you for your concern.
Sincerely,
Services Team
Amazon Services. Inc. is a subsidiary of Amazon.com. Inc. Amazon.com is a registered trademark of Amazon.com, Inc. This message was produced and distributed by Amazon Services Inc.. 410 Terry Ave. North. Seattle. WA 98109-5210
TIPS
While this is a legitimate appearing email that uses a legitimate appearing Amazon logo, the grammar and punctuation is faulty which often is an indication that this is a phishing email originating in a country where English is not the primary language. There are a number of other indications that this is a phishing email. Legitimate emails from Amazon would be directed to you by name rather than being addressed to your email address as this phishing email was (the email address was removed by me when posting this Scam of the day as was the link to verify your information). Most tellingly, this phishing email is sent from an address that has no relation to Amazon. If you receive an email like this and think it may possibly be legitimate, merely call the customer service number for Amazon where you can confirm that it is a scam.
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Scam of the day – March 5, 2020 – FTC Shuts Down Illegal Debt Collector
Abusive and fraudulent debt collection is a major problem with some of the scammers who operate these scams even attempting to collect on debts that don’t even exist. I have reported to you many times about the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) actions against many of these scammers. Most recently the FTC and the New York Attorney General shut down the phony debt collection business operated by Robert Heidenreich who contacted consumers and lied about debts they owed. Heidenreich also used illegal scare tactics to spur his victims into paying him to settle the debts he claimed they owed.
TIPS
Subject to strict federal laws, legitimate debt collectors are permitted to call debtors, however, the law prohibits them from threatening imprisonment for the failure to pay a debt and attempting to collect a debt that the debt collector knows is bogus. It can be difficult to know when someone calls attempting to collect a debt if indeed they are legitimate or not, so the best course of action if you receive such a call is to not discuss the debt with the person calling, but instead demand that they send you a written “validation notice” by regular mail which describes the debt they allege you owe and includes a listing of your rights under the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Never give personal information over the phone to anyone who calls you attempting to collect a debt. You can never be sure who they are. If you receive the validation notice and it appears to be legitimate, you may be better off contacting your creditor directly because the person who called you may not be representing the creditor, but may merely have information about the debt.
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Scam of the day – March 4, 2020 – GoFundMe Scams
Crowdfunding is the name for the process by which people raise funds on websites such as GoFundMe for various projects from movies and books to the development of new businesses. Unfortunately, as I have been warning you about since 2012, the potential for crowdfunding scams is tremendous. On February 19th an AMBER Alert was issued in Tennessee for a missing 15 month old child, Evelyn Boswell. Shortly thereafter a GoFundMe page was set up for her, but unfortunately, it was set up by a scammer. The site has been taken down, but not before some people had made contributions.
TIPS
One of the good aspects of GoFundMe is its guarantee that if scams like this are discovered, GoFundMe will refund all donations made to the scammers. Here is a link to GoFundMe’s guarantee. https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/203604704-The-GoFundMe-Guarantee
In addition, GoFundMe also provides tips for people trying to distinguish scams from legitimate requests for donation, which describe things you should consider before making a donation such as whether or not the intended beneficiary of the donations is in control of the withdrawals and if not, if there is a clear path for the funds to reach him or her. For a full list of the things you should consider before making a GoFundMe donation, click on this link. https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015913668-How-to-Determine-if-a-GoFundMe-is-Safe-to-Donate-To
GoFundMe does a good job of trying to keep its site free of scams, but of course, they will never be perfect. Fortunately, due to their guarantee policy, no one making a donation should feel there is a danger of losing their money to a discovered scam.
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