Fraud Prevention & Identity Theft

How It Happens:

• The online payday lenders required borrowers to provide bank account information so they could deposit the borrowed funds electronically and withdraw the repayment amount from the account later.
• The lenders claimed that the repayment amount would be the amount borrowed plus a one-time finance fee, and that this amount would be withdrawn on a particular date.
• The lenders lie about how much their loans would cost. The result of this scheme? The borrowers paid much more than the stated cost of their loans.

Learn more about the Online Loan Scam.

Fake checks are used in many types of scams. Here are some examples:

Mystery Shoppers

• Scammers pretend to hire people as mystery shoppers and tell them their first assignment is to evaluate a retailer that sells gift cards, money orders, or a money transfer service, like Western Union or MoneyGram.
• The shopper gets a check with instructions to deposit it in a personal bank account and wire it to someone else. But once the money is wired, the person on the other end can disappear.

Car Wrap Scams

• As a way to earn extra cash, you find an offer to wrap your vehicle in an advertisement. To get started, the 'employer' will send you a check to cover your payment and also the cost of the wrap.
• You are then told to deposit checks and send money to decal installers. These installers don’t actually exist. You have sent money back to the fraudster and will not be able to retrieve it.

Personal Assistants

• People apply online and get hired as personal assistants. They get a check and are told to use the money to buy gift cards or to buy equipment or supplies for their new client.
• Once the scammers get the gift card PIN numbers, they use them instantly, leaving the “personal assistant” without the money when the bank figures out the check is bad.

Learn more about Fake Check Scams.

How It Happens:

• Generally starts with a seemingly legitimate call from a software or computer company, or a pop-up on your computer.
• The caller or pop-up uses an excuse such as your computer has reported an issue, or you paid for this service and we are going to fix your computer.
• You grant this person access to your computer using legit software (usually called Team View).
• The person downloads a file onto your computer that contains malware. The malware contains a bug on your computer to track websites you visit such as financial institution or other personal websites. They then have software that will track keystrokes and can compromise usernames/passwords to access your banking sites, compromising the accounts and ripping you off.

Learn more about the Tech Support "Team Viewer" Scam.

How It Happens: Victims have reported multiple scenarios when getting scammed.

Scenario #1

• You’ll receive a ‘phishing’ email or phone call stating there is a problem with your Apple or Amazon account.
• The issue can be a number of things. An Apple email or phone call may state that you are owed a refund of some sort. An Amazon email or phone call may state that you have a lost package or issue with delivery.
• By clicking on the link, you are likely downloading malware onto your computer than may result in compromised personal information.

Scenario #2

• Apple or Amazon states that you were refunded some money in error. Since the refund isn't yours, you need to pay it back. If you pay the refund back quickly, there would be no disruption or lockdown of your account or service. You don't see the credit yet, but if you don't pay right now, your account will be locked until the pending credit is paid off or backed out of the account.
• To "pay off" your refund, they will ask you to visit a website or call a phone number (or press 1 to speak with someone now). By paying, the scammer is receiving your money that you didn't actually owe. It could also compromise your card number or other payment information. There is no refund really coming.

Learn more about Apple and Amazon Support Scams.

How It Happens:

• You will receive a text message, or possibly email, stating there is an issue delivering a package that you are expecting. Since most people do a lot of online shopping these days, they likely think it is a package that they forgot about.
• The link generally contains a piece of malware that will download to your device, giving hackers access to personal information that can compromise your personal, sensitive information.

Learn more about the "Waiting Package" Scam.

How It Happens:

• Targets older people who would be in the expected age of a grandparent, scammers will call and answer the phone similar to this: “Hi Grandma, do you know who this is?”
• As the victim tries to figure out who might be calling, if they do have grandkids they may guess a grandkids name.
• This opens the door for the scammer to pretend to be that grandchild and makes a claim that they are in some sort of emergency or bad situation.
• They will ask for money to be sent to get them out of the situation and usually asks the grandparent to not tell their parents so they don’t get in trouble.
• Money will usually be sent via Western Union wire transfers so that it is untraceable and cannot be recovered.
• Rule of Thumb: Always ask the parent before sending money, even if it would get your grandchild in trouble. It’s better to have them safe and to confirm if it’s really them than to lose your money.

Learn more about the Grandparent Scam.

How It Happens:

• Someone who is lonely will meet someone else on a dating app or social media network.
• They build trust over time (usually over a period of months, but sometimes over a year or more).
• Generally, the scammer will have a reason that the two can never meet – they live too far away, or have a job that requires a lot of travel, etc.)
• One day, the scammer claims that they need some money to get out of a situation or to help in a time of need.
• Because the relationship has ‘evolved’ into something more than a friendship, the victim will believe this to be a true need.
• The scammer manipulates victim into sending gift cards, or cashing a check and wiring money, or some other financial dealing.
• Once the victim sends the money, it usually cannot be recovered. The scammer then, no longer returns messages, etc. and goes about their life while the victim digs out of the financial loss.

Learn more about Romance Scams.