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GENERIC SCAMS:
Do not respond to any of these scams, not even to remove
your name from the list
- Special VISA/Mastercard Scam Alert
- Confirmed: Should you get a phone call from a VISA or
Mastercard "Employee" trying to confirm the unusual spending
activity AND that person asks for the 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. If you suspect a scam 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 purchases 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 "-acounts" in its domain.
- Sign In Rosters:
There are some companies and government agencies that
ask you to put your name and social security number on
a sign in roster. 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 this, the best way to handle the situation
is to write the following instead of your SSN "will provide
in person".
- 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 still falling for it.
- Canadian/Netherlands Lottery:
"You have won." Unless you entered a lottery or bought
a ticket to win a prize these are scams. Remember playing
foreign lotteries is illegal.
- "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
you for a service later on.
- "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
to take care of the shipping and handling. DON'T . Free
means free, there should be no charge.
- Questionnaires:
This is the time of year when you 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 birth date, passwords, (Favorite Things)
and even blatantly may ask for your SSN.
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