SCAMS & CONSUMER ALERTS

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in our nation today. Besides dumpster diving, mail theft and lost/stolen wallets, criminals are stealing information by:

• overhearing conversations made on cell phones
• from faxes and emails
• by hacking into computers
• from telephone and email scams
• and even from careless online shopping and banking.

In fact, more than 20% of all cases involve telecommunications and the Internet (FTC). It is of prime importance to understand how thieves steal your information via the telephone and computer systems. Compare this to a defensive driving course, if you will. It is not enough to know how to use a phone or the Internet. One must know how to use this technology safely, including increased awareness of situations that lead to identity theft, or the use of the technology will create more problems than it solves. Scam artists are good at putting together legitimate-sounding scripts, websites and emails.

CURRENT KNOWN SCAMS - By categories  

Most scams, by phone or email, ask you to provide either credit card account information or your Social Security number. The Identity Theft Resource Center recommends that you NEVER give out this information unless you initiate the call and you know that you are speaking to a true company representative. The list of scams below represent only a few of the scams currently being circulated and are ones that we heard about from law enforcement or another official resource.

If you think you have received a SCAM, please forward the ENTIRE email to ITRC at: itrc@idtheftcenter.org and we will forward it to the FBI for you and let you know if it is a confirmed scam.

To verify a suspected scam, the Identity Theft Resource Center recommends the following steps:

1. Contact the company involved directly, using a customer service number you find in the phone book or that you have used in the past. THINK FIRST- ACT SECOND. The action to take is to verify a contact by the company before responding to the email. Do not even send a "do not contact me again."
   
2. Contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. This is a  partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.  Or, contact your local State Attorney General's office, see ITRC State and Local Resources page.
   
3. Contact the Federal Trade Commission at 877-FTC HELP or send it via email to: spam@uce.gov
   
4. See end of this page for list of other sites that report scams.
   
5. Remember, URLs that begin "http" are not secure. Only those that begin "https" are secure sites to send sensitive information.
   
6. Avoid scams that appear to use telephone numbers in the U.S but are expensive out-of-country numbers. If you're not sure where a telephone number is located, use this free Area Code Decoder: http://decoder.americom.com/cgi-bin/decoder.cgi

GENERIC SCAMS: Do not respond to any of these scams, not even to remove your name from the list

• Job Scams   - (See Fact Sheet 121  Job Seekers, Shipping Scams and Money Laundering): If a company contacts you and asks that you process payments or accept checks/money orders for them into your own account or an account you have set up for them - THINK TWICE. This is almost always a scam. Most often they will tell you to deposit the money order in your own account and forward the money to them electronically or via a money order immediately or to set up a new account (using your name and SSN) that includes electronic/online banking. By the time you find out the money order you got from "the customer" bounced, they will have already removed the money from the account leaving you holding the bag. The commission you take for this service could even implicate you in the crime. You will almost always be held liable for the lost money, often thousands of dollars.
  
  Never sell a product to a person who sends you more money than needed and asks that the extra money be returned. That check or money order is probably bogus also. Not only will you be out the product but the money order you sent as well.
  
  Never ship a product for an "out-of-country" company, especially if you don't know what you are shipping. It could be stolen goods.
  
  The bottom line - these "at home part time jobs" sound too easy. Grandma is right - if it sounds too good to be true it probably is trouble.
  
• Special VISA/Mastercard Scam Alert - Confirmed: Should you get a phone call from a VISA or Mastercard “employee” trying to confirm unusual spending activity AND that person asks for code on the back of your credit card--- DO NOT give that number out. They will sound very professional but may not be from that company. They may even tell you how the scam works - for instance telling you that charges are always under $500. Then they will ask you for the code on the back of your credit card. DO NOT give that number to the caller. They often say that the charge is for an Anti-Marketing Device.
  
  Contact VISA or Mastercard Fraud numbers on your credit card to confirm that they made that call and deal with the situation that way.
  
• Account verification or "phisher" scams - For several years, individuals have purchased domain names that are similar to those of legitimate companies. It may be in a form such as: abccompany-accounts.net. The real company is abccompany but it does not have a "-accounts" in its domain. These con artists then send out millions of emails asking consumers to verify account information and even Social Security Number. Prior to agreeing to do this, check with the company directly and see if the email originally was sent from them. In almost all cases, you will be told that it is a scam. The latest verification scams are: E-Bay; Best Buys; Discover Card; e-gold.com; ebay-verification.net and change-ebay.com. Almost all Internet server names have been used for this scam as well. Companies that have been known to be victims of this scam include: AOL, MSN, Earthlink,Pay Pal, Discover Card, Bank of America, Providian and Wells Fargo.
  
• Sign-in Rosters - There are some companies and governmental agencies (colleges, EDD, state-sponsored programs) that ask you to put your name and SSN on a sign-in roster. Please be aware that identity thieves may sign up toward the end of a page (purposely) so that they can copy and collect personal identifying information. If you encounter a sign-in roster like this, the best way to handle the situation is to write the following instead of your SSN - "will provide in person." You might also question a company/school representative about this practice and see if you can get it discontinued. It is dangerous and should be stopped. Some state laws will be addressing this in the next year or so. If this is a classroom situation and you do not need the credits, you may choose to leave the space for SSN either blank or filled in with 000-00-0000. Please do not make up a number. It might belong to another innocent person and hurt his or her credit.
  
• Help move money from my country, aka Nigerian 419 Scam - Everyone has received an email from a representative of a foreign government asking you to help move money from one account to another. This scam still nets $100 million annually so people are falling for it. Nigerian Money Offers now account for about 12 percent of the scam offers people have said they've received, according to a recent National Consumers League poll. However, complaints about these offers increased 900 percent from 2000 to 2001. The latest versions of this scam include a dying woman, a soldier and emails other than from Nigeria.
  
• Canadian/Netherlands Lottery - "You Have Won"- Unless you entered a lottery or bought a ticket to win a prize, these are scams. They originate from the Netherlands and other foreign countries. This scam can cost you more than $20,000. Many include: From: "Promotions Manager" : CONGRATULATIONS! WERKEN BIJ DE LOTTO, 41132, NL-1007 DB AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS. NEW- Via US Mail there is a new scam about a "Spanish Lottery." Do not respond, turn it over to your local postal inspector.
  
• "Free Credit Report" Emails - Almost all of the "free credit report" emails you receive are scams. Either the person is trying to find out your social security number or will be billing later you for a service. Do your homework and check out the company via the Better Business Bureau, US Attorney and Federal Trade Commission. You don't know who is sending these emails. One offer has even been tracked to a porn web server in Los Angeles.
  
• "You have won a free gift" - You may receive either a phone call or email about a free gift or prize. You just need to send your credit card info to take care of shipping and handling. DON'T. Free means free, there should be no charge. Also, you must consider if this is a group sending out a cheap gift in exchange for finding a "live" phone number or email address. Responding may result in hundreds of spans or telemarketing calls.
  
• Email chain letters/pyramid schemes - There are many of these. One says that Bill Gates is testing a new email-tracking program and wants your help. If you forward the email to your friends, Microsoft will pay you $__ for each person that receives it. Others say that you will get a gift or money from each person who comes after you. Another tells you: Follow the simple instructions below and your financial dreams will come true. Order all 5 reports shown on the list below. For each report, send $5 CASH,T This one even says that the FTC says this is legal. These are pyramid scams. They are for the most part illegal and are just variations on the old postal chain letters. Do not respond or forward these emails. As ScamBusters said, "Remember, any email that asks you to forward it to your friends is a scam. We literally know of no exceptions."
  
• "Find out everything on anyone" - This email is trying to solicit $__ in order to buy a CD or program that you can use to find out personal information on another person. These are always public records and may be someone who just wants your credit account number to use themselves.
  
• Questionnaires - This is the time of year when you may get an email holiday card from an "old friend." It may come from a chat room friend. These include questions that help the person sending it find out your birthdate, passwords (favorite things) and even blatantly may ask for your SSN. Do not answer these, even with false information. You only let the other party know that they have reached a "live" person and you may eventually give away information you don't realize can hurt you. These people are slick and can easily convince you to divulge information you don't intent do. That is why they are called con artists.
  
• Help Wanted Ads - Do not place your Social Security number or date of birth on resumes that you send out for jobs. We have heard about several instances where a person placed a "help wanted ad" either on the Internet or in a newspaper and collected Social Security Numbers that way.
  
• Job advertisement scams - Recently there have been scams involving Internet Job Websites (for instance Monster.com) and Newspaper Want Ads. Under no circumstances should an applicant provide a SSN to a "HR person" found through a newspaper ad or an Internet ad prior to an actual interview or prior to authenticating both the company and the person asking for the information. If you have any doubts, contact the company directly using a phone number found on the company Website or telephone book. Remember, anyone can set up a Website. You may choose to check the company out with the Better Business Bureau for that area as well as the state attorney general to make sure that they are a legitimate company. Typical tip-offs: Email addresses that do not include a company name in the domain section, mailing addresses or fax addresses in cities that differ from corporate headquarters.
  
• In-Store security scams - Two have been brought to our attention. Individuals identifying themselves as in-store security may request a customer's help in catching a bad employee. They ask for personal information or ask you to pre-fill out a credit application and then give it to the employee. The second form involves a scamster who is watching a customer fill out a form or pay for a bill with a credit card. Just prior to the employee calling it in for approval, they call that clerk and ask the information stating that the card/application is from a thief. Make sure that any store employee who approaches you has proper identification and that if a call interrupts an employee during a transaction, that you check it out with store security.
  
• Telephone scams - We anticipate that consumers will get calls from "charities" asking for donations. Do not provide credit card information over the telephone. Secondly, scamsters take advantage of the "do not call" lists compiled by state governments. No one from the state will be calling consumers asking if they want to be included on the "do not call list" nor will these lists require a consumer to provide a SSN via telephone.