SCAM ALERT…FINANCIAL SCAMS TO BEWARE OF AFTER THE EQUIFAX BREACH

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“Overall, there were nearly 1.3 million fraud-related complaints reported last year, up about 2% from 2015. Most people said they were scammed after a phone call. Victims paid out a total of $744 million to fraudsters last year, with the average one losing more than $1,100, according to the FTC” USA Today Report

 

 

As recently reported by USA Today, financial scams have been increasing in frequency and will only increase after the Equifax breach incident.

 

The key to not be a victim is to be aware and have the presence of mind to be able to identify and stop the scam before it happens.

 

Here are a few of the recent scams to beware of;

 

 

EQUIFAX IS CALLING SCAM

 

You get an anonymous call and the caller announces “This is Equifax calling to verify your account information.” DO NOT provide any information, according to the FTC financial scam alert blog; it’s one of the scams perpetrated by criminal gangs who may have gotten hold of your contact information. Practical tips to remember are;

 

Don’t give personal information. Don’t provide any personal or financial information unless you’ve initiated the call and it’s to a phone number you know is correct.

 

Don’t trust caller ID. Scammers can spoof their numbers so it looks like they are calling from a particular company, even when they’re not.

 

If you get a robocall, hang up. Don’t press 1 to speak to a live operator or any other key to take your number off the list. If you respond by pressing any number, it will probably just lead to more robocalls.

 

If you feel you’ve been targeted and want to do something about it, report this to the FTC complaints page to reconcile this with similar activity and warn others who are subscribed to the scam alert page

 

 

 

ANONYMOUS ROBO CALL FROM THE IRS SCAM

 

You get an anonymous call on your cell phone or land line, and the message you receive from a ROBO voicemail is “This is the Tax Crime Investigation Unit of the IRS, the reason you are receiving this call is to notify you that the IRS has issued an arrest warrant against you. Right now you and your physical property are being monitored and it’s very important that I hear back from you as soon as possible before we proceed further in any legal manner, my direct call back number is 214.275.9483”

 

If you get this call, DO NOT PANIC and stay calm,  it’s a SCAM, simply ignore this message and DO NOT call back the number provided, that could be one of several the crooks use since they can easily spoof online phone numbers.

 

The best thing to do is to warn people in your household about this incident so they can be forewarned and not fall prey into this scheme. If you have time, report this to the FTC by via the complaints page so it can be properly logged and tracked for the benefit of others using their site.

 

 

 

LOVED ONE IS IN TROUBLE SCAM

 

You get a distressed phone call from someone pretending to be a friend or family member saying they have been in a terrible accident and need money immediately in order to bail them out of the predicament.

 

The first thing to do is DO NOT volunteer information to the caller, they will usually strike up a conversation and glean information you provide in order to plug in details and make it seem that someone you know really is in trouble. Get as much information as you can without providing any information on your part.

 

Once you sense you have enough info, HANG UP and immediately check with immediate family to verify.

 

If you have caller ID, note the number down so that later you can subscribe it the ‘DO NOT CALL’ registry.

 

Make sure you let others know about this so they too can be aware and not be a victim.

 

 

RELATED

• 4 WAYS TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM IDENTITY THEFT
• 7 TIPS TO PREVENT CYBER ATTACKS

 

 

WORK FROM HOME SCAM

 

You’d get an anonymous email that promises you significant income, working from home, examples could be (source: FTC);

 

Envelope stuffing

 

For a small fee the ad says you’ll make lots of money stuffing envelopes. But after you pay, you find out there is no work. Instead, you get a letter telling you to get other people to buy the same envelope-stuffing opportunity. You earn money only if those people respond the same way you did, similar to multi-level marketing scams.

 

Assembly or craft work

 

The ad will say you can make money assembling crafts or other products at home for a company that has promised to buy them. You may have to invest hundreds of dollars for equipment or supplies — like a sewing or sign-making machine from the company, or materials to make items like aprons, baby shoes, or plastic signs. Then you spend many hours making the “product.” But after you’ve bought your supplies and done the work, the company doesn’t pay you — supposedly because your work isn’t “up to standard.”  Unfortunately, no work ever is, and you’re left with equipment and supplies, but no income.

 

Rebate processing

 

The ad says you can earn money by helping to process rebates. The fee for training, certification, or registration is nothing compared to what you’ll earn, the ad promises. The “#1 certified work-at-home consultant” behind the program will show you how to succeed like she did. What you get instead are poorly written and useless training materials. There are no rebates to process, and few people ever get a refund.

 

Medical billing

 

The ads promise a substantial income for full- or part-time work processing medical claims electronically — no experience needed. When you call the toll-free number, a sales rep tells you doctors are eager for help. In exchange for your investment of hundreds — or thousands — of dollars, the rep says, you’ll get everything you need to launch your own medical billing business, including the software to process the claims, a list of potential clients, and technical support. But the companies rarely provide experienced sales staff or contacts in the medical community. The lists they give you often are out-of-date and include doctors who haven’t asked for billing services. The software they send might not even work. Competition in the medical billing market is fierce, and few people who make the investment are able to find clients or generate any income — let alone get back their investment.

 

Mystery shopping

 

Ads for mystery shoppers say they want people who are willing to shop at certain stores or dine at certain restaurants, and then report on their experience in exchange for money. While there are some legitimate mystery shopping jobs, many are scams. Scammers might tell you that you need to pay for worthless certifications, directories, or job guarantees. Others are running fake check scams — they ask you to deposit checks and wire some of the money back, before you and the bank find out the check is fake, and you’re responsible for paying it back. You should never have to pay to get into the mystery shopping business.

 

Bottom line, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is; take heed so you don’t fall into these work from home type scams.

 

 

YOUR COMPUTER IS BROKEN SCAM

 

You get a call from a person impersonating a technician from Microsoft or Symantec saying your computer has been hacked, they’ll even provide an ID or badge number to mimic an authentic employee; they would then proceed to ask for your IP address and connect to your machine in order to fix it, or you’ll see a pop-up on your screen asking for someone to connect to your machine.

 

At this point STOP!!! DO NOT click on the pop-up or provide access to your computer. And HANG UP.

 

DO NOT provide your user name, password, your WIFI router name and password or anything that the crooks can use to break into your network.

 

If you feel that after hanging up, your computer is acting suspicious, is slow or your internet connectivity is also slow, take your machine to your local geek squad or legitimate PC repair store and let them know what happened, they can usually run a malware scan to see if your machine has been infected and can immediately clean or better, re-image your machine.

 

Cybercriminals are crafty and will use a combination of social engineering and hacking to try and get access to your network, having common sense and being aware that these are tactics meant to fool you, you’ll be able to stop these idiots before they even get in the door.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE

 

Financial scams are now sadly part of our lives, the only way we can protect ourselves is to be knowledgeable in how the scams operate. Also, having a healthy dose of ‘suspicion’ will also help identify a scam before it happens. Make sure to pause, assess, and take control of a situation especially if it has tell-tale signs of a scam; “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is”.

 

Do you have other examples or instances of financial scams you’d like to share? Please do send us feedback below or email us at thedebtfreejourney@gmail.com.

 

Thanks and until next post.

 

Peace and Blessings to you All.