Tag Archive for scam

Use Your Brain and Your Heart

August 7, 2019 Comments Off on Use Your Brain and Your Heart

You may want to give in to charitable appeals for recent tragedies, like mass shootings, earthquakes, and fires.  But don’t just follow your heart–engage your brain. Be sure those donations do some real good for real people rather than enriching scam artists or CEOs.  Clark Howard offers some tips:

  • Don’t give cash. Legitimate charities will take a check.
  • Don’t give out your credit card, bank account or personal information to telemarketers. If you want to donate, initiate the call yourself.
  • Don’t fall for Internet appeals if the cause does not look legitimate and doesn’t check out. Make sure to do your research!
  • Expect specific information. Ask what kind of relief this organization is going to provide. Don’t accept vague explanations.
  • Check out the charity with national, state, and local authorities. Established charities register with the Internal Revenue Service. You can search for specific non-profit organizations on the IRS website: irs.gov.
  • Beware of newly formed organizations. If the charity is new, you may have to rely on your relationship with the company or sponsor of the organization to determine whether you trust the group.
  • Report abuses to the nearest Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General’s office. Both are listed in local telephone directories. You can also report abuses to the National Fraud Information Center at (800) 876-7060. NFIC also has a web-based complaint form at www.fraud.org.

And here’s one of my own:  Check to see how much of your donation will go to charitable work as compared to administrative costs (including CEOs) and fundraising costs.  Look them up at www.CharityNavigator.org or the Better Business Bureau site www.BBB.give.org.

For more tips on donating, check out Clark’s Donation Guide.

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How to Recognize a Robocall

June 3, 2019 Comments Off on How to Recognize a Robocall

The AARP has put out a short informative article, titled How to Recognize a Robocall, that is worth paying attention to. It discusses four major fraudulent calls most of us are repeatedly getting, especially older adults, whom the scammers deem easy targets. Those calls relate to health insurance, missed jury duty, Social Security being cut off, and a request the person supposedly made to alleviate their pain. Read this article, be aware, and make sure your older loved ones are vigilant when answering the phone.

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Seniors & Social Security Scares

March 4, 2019 Comments Off on Seniors & Social Security Scares

Do you know someone who was among the 35,000 seniors who lost over $10 million in 2018 (according to the FTC) by responding to a phone call from “Social Security”? Yes, that many people and that much money!

Scammers target seniors because Social Security is, for most of them, the difference between homed and homeless, eating and malnutrition or starvation, quality of life and despair. Their fear of being cut off from the Social Security money they earned makes them very vulnerable.

If this is you or you have a loved one who might be in such danger, remember this–and pass it on to every senior you know. The real Social Security Administration will never 1) call without warning, 2) threaten or say that your benefits will be cancelled, or 3) say that the problem can be solved if you send money or gift cards to a location they give you.

If you have any doubts that what the caller is saying could be true, hang up and call the real Social Security at (800)772-1213.

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Stealing the Season

November 20, 2018 Comments Off on Stealing the Season

‘Tis the season…for stealing your identity and financial information. There’s a large number of malicious apps out there anxious to trap you by filling your In-Box with offers of fantastic prices and discounts. Beware! Here are a few tips:

  1. Watch out for texts that contain spelling or grammatical errors. Legit retailers pay good money to make sure their promotional materials don’t have such mistakes.
  2. Avoid third-party app stores. Stick to real, established ones, like Apple and Google.
  3. Look at the URL. Be sure it starts with HTTPS. If not, forget it.
  4. If the prices are too fantastic to be true–and items are not being sold from the trunk of a car–it’s a scam.
  5. Shop only from retailers you’re familiar with and ones you trust.

In short, make sure you don’t bestow the gift of your money and private information on scammer.

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How to Tell if that Gas Pump Has a Skimmer

September 7, 2018 Comments Off on How to Tell if that Gas Pump Has a Skimmer

This is information all drivers should have. We can protect ourselves from the bad guys who install credit card skimmers in gas pumps to collect credit card data from us so they can sell it to other bad guys who then use it, knowing that the bill will come to us, not to them. I was surprised at how simple this is–just takes a second to glance up and be safe. And it’s yet another reason to find ways to use less gasoline.

(Be sure to wait for the video to load, then right-click to unmute to get sound.)

 

https://www.facebook.com/DeniseWhitakerKOMO/videos/595471964183943/

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Deadline Tomorrow to Get Refund from Western Union

May 30, 2018 Comments Off on Deadline Tomorrow to Get Refund from Western Union

I told you about this last November.  But it’s now or never if you were scammed out of money and Western Union took your payment.

Western Union has $586 million they have to give out.  It’s the settlement agreement they made for letting scammers trick people into wiring money to “grand kids” in Zimbabwe and “friends” stranded in China.  If you were caught in such a scam, you have money coming.

Letters notifying people of this are going out to 500,000 people the Justice Department believes were scammed.  But they think there are others.  Those others can go online to fill out an application.  They’ll want details, so be prepared with dates, amounts, etc.  And file before Feb. 12, 2018.

If you think you fell for a Western Union-related scam, go to www.WesternUnionRemission.com  .

 

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You are the Target

March 27, 2018 Comments Off on You are the Target

Scammers are always attacking us.  I wish they’d  get a real life, but apparently enough of us are taken in that they’re making a bundle of money.

I just read an AAPR article on scammers–how they draw us in by personalizing their pitch.  I thought you might  be interested in reading it.  It gives good information that may protect you or a loved one, especially that senior citizen you care so much for and who is in the age group most targeted by scammers.

It’s called “You are the Target”  and can be found at this AARP webpage.

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Warning to Widows/Widowers & Others

February 27, 2018 Comments Off on Warning to Widows/Widowers & Others

My husband passed away over a year ago, but I’ve been keeping his email account open to tie up loose ends.  I was about to close it yesterday and discovered that his credit was still available.

I had frozen my credit at all three agencies but left his, thinking that it would disappear after he died.

The problem here is that our credit info was on each other’s  report, since we co-borrowed, for example, home and auto loans.  I started to wonder, then, if someone could access my information through our shared data and gather enough from it and elsewhere to steal my identity.  Nobody that I asked could answer for certain if his open credit could help lead to my identity theft.

So I froze his credit yesterday. Considering how lax at least one of the credit reporting agencies has been in guarding our information, I felt it would be a good idea.  Especially since older persons and widowed persons are often targets of financial scams.

You might want to freeze your credit, too.  Even if you aren’t widowed.  You can unfreeze it if you need to apply for a loan or new credit card.  Be sure you do so at all three credit reporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.  It’s easy to do online.

Be safe.

 

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Let Western Union Wire YOU Money

November 27, 2017 Comments Off on Let Western Union Wire YOU Money

Western Union has $586 million they have to give out.  It’s the settlement agreement they made for letting scammers trick people into wiring money to “grand kids” in Zimbabwe and “friends” stranded in China.  If you were caught in such a scam, you have money coming.

Letters notifying people of this are going out to 500,000 people the Justice Department believes were scammed.  But they think there are others.  Those others can go online to fill out an application.  They’ll want details, so be prepared with dates, amounts, etc.  And file before Feb. 12, 2018.

If you think you fell for a Western Union-related scam, go to www.WesternUnionRemission.com  .

 

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Helping Flood Victims–Don’t Do This

September 1, 2017 Comments Off on Helping Flood Victims–Don’t Do This

There are tragedies and suffering from catastrophes in various parts of the world, including floods in our own country.  You probably want to help somehow. For most of us, all we can do is to donate to charities that are on the scene helping the victims.  Go ahead.  But be sure those donations do some real good for real people rather than enriching scam artists or CEOs.  Clark Howard offers some tips:

  • Don’t give cash. Legitimate charities will take a check.
  • Don’t give out your credit card, bank account or personal information to telemarketers. If you want to donate, initiate the call yourself.
  • Don’t fall for Internet appeals if the cause does not look legitimate and doesn’t check out. Make sure to do your research!
  • Expect specific information. Ask what kind of relief this organization is going to provide. Don’t accept vague explanations.
  • Check out the charity with national, state, and local authorities. Established charities register with the Internal Revenue Service. You can search for specific non-profit organizations on the IRS website: irs.gov.
  • Beware of newly formed organizations. If the charity is new, you may have to rely on your relationship with the company or sponsor of the organization to determine whether you trust the group.
  • Report abuses to the nearest Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General’s office. Both are listed in local telephone directories. You can also report abuses to the National Fraud Information Center at (800) 876-7060. NFIC also has a web-based complaint form at www.fraud.org.

And here’s one of my own:  Check to see how much of your donation will go to charitable work as compared to administrative costs (including CEOs) and fundraising costs.  Look them up at www.CharityNavigator.org or the Better Business Bureau site www.BBB.give.org.

For more tips on donating, check out Clark’s Donation Guide.

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