Across the country people are tricked out of millions of dollars every year by scammers. Scammers will use traditional mail, telephones, email, texting, or any other platform they can to convince you to give them money or your personal information. Although certain groups like the elderly or those with mental health issues are frequently sought out by scammers, no one is immune as a target. The most unfortunate part about being the victim of a scam is that most of them originate from outside the United States. This creates a situation in which law enforcement has very little power to do anything, including retrieve any money that may have been lost. Please take precautions to avoid falling victim to a scammer.
There are some simple things you can do to protect yourself. The most important is to use common sense. In almost every situation, if you are contacted by someone who tells you that in order to receive a large amount of money you need to send them a small amount of money it is a scam. If you are contacted by someone saying that they need your account information for any reason, contact that organization independently, do not give any information to the person asking for it. Scammers can be very pushy and frightening, often telling you that you could lose money or other bad things could happen if you hang up the phone without giving them the information they are asking for. As simple as this sounds, just use common sense. If your bank is contacting you, they should not have to ask for your account number, they already have it. If you have never been to, nor played the Jamaican lottery, you didn’t win it. If the IRS needs to get in touch with you that bad, someone from the government will most likely end up at your door!
Please take a few minutes to look through the following website with some of the more common scams and tips on how to protect yourself. Thanks, and stay safe.