Beware of the Scammers
More and more of my clients have contacted me asking if something is a scam. Almost always their suspicions are correct: someone has indeed targeted them to try and take away their assets. Scams damage not only your finances, but also your relationships with your loved ones.
A few general rules exist for dealing with these scams. First and foremost, do not interact with random people or companies that contact you out of the blue. Next, never give out your banking information or other sensitive personal information to strangers-especially if they are requesting that you act fast. Lastly, if it is too good to be true, it is. It is not ordinary for a good-looking person to contact you randomly or for someone to say that you won a lottery or a prize.
Some scams to look out for are:
- Romance scams are on the rise. Do not send money to someone that you have not met in person. A good rule of thumb is that if you have not met them in person, they are not real (or at least the person that you believe they are). Do not give potential scammers your address to meet you and take extreme caution before meeting with anyone you meet online, over text, or dating apps.
- Tax scams have been popular over the past few years. The IRS will not call you and demand payment. You will not be left a message by an enforcement agency who is demanding you pay or be sent to jail. Banking information should never be exchanged in these instances. Contact whoever prepared your taxes in these instances.
- Reloadable Card Scams have been around for decades. If someone is requesting that you send them a reloadable card, this is a scam. These scams have evolved into sending prepaid credit cards, gift cards, money orders, etc. in the digital age.
- Phishing Emails are emails or texts sent by scammers to try and gain your sensitive information. Never click on an email if you cannot tell where it came from. If you do not have an account or know the company the email is sent from, there is a good chance it may be a Phishing scam.
If you have even a slight concern you may be getting scammed, you should put the brakes on what is happening until you do two things. First, search online what you are being sent to see if it is an obvious scam; I do this often with scam text messages and emails which confirm the scam. Next, if the internet does not have a quick result, contact someone you trust: a family member, professional, your attorney, banker, accountant, a friend, church member, etc. before giving out any personal information.
Do let these people take advantage of you. If you do not know someone, do not reply to them and block them. This is not bad manners: these people are contacting you to scam you.
If you have been the victim of a scam, do not feel guilty or embarrassed, as many people of all ages fall victim to scammers. In fact, one of the things scammers count on is that their victims will not report the scam because of these feelings.
Discussions about potential scams within the community help bring an increased awareness which will hopefully help protect our community members from becoming a victim of fraud.