Other Fraud & Scams
The more you know about the various scams, the easier it is to protect yourself. Here are some tips that may help you identify and avoid fraud.
Counterfeit Checks and Money Order Scams
There are many variations of the counterfeit check scam. It could start with someone offering to buy something you advertised, pay you to do work at home, give you an “advance” on a sweepstakes you’ve supposedly won, or pay the first installment on the millions you’ll receive for agreeing to have money in a foreign country transferred to your account for safekeeping. Whatever the pitch, the person may sound quite believable.
Scammers often claim to be in another country. They say it’s too difficult and complicated to send you money directly from their country, so they’ll arrange for someone in the U.S. to send you a check. They tell you to wire money to them after you’ve deposited the check.
Sale Advertisement - If you’re selling something they will give you more than the sales price. They will ask you to deposit the check, keep what you’re owed, and wire the rest to them.
Work at Home - If its part of a work at home scheme, scammers may claim that you’ll be processing checks from their “clients”. You deposit the checks and then wire them the money minus your “pay”. Or they may send you a check for more than your pay “by mistake” and ask you to wire them the excess.
Sweepstakes - In the sweepstakes and foreign money offer, scammers tell you to wire them money for the taxes, customs, bonding, processing, legal fees, or other expenses that must be paid before you can get the rest of the money.
The checks are counterfeit but they look real. In fact, they look so real that even tellers may be fooled. Some are phony cashiers checks, other look like they’re from legitimate business accounts. The companies whose names appear may be real, but someone has falsified the checks without their knowledge.
Under federal law (Regulation CC), financial institutions have to make the funds you deposit available – usually within one to five business days (sometimes longer), depending on the type of check. Even though you may be able to withdraw the money does not mean the check is good, even if it’s a cashiers check. It can take weeks for the counterfeit or forgery to be discovered and the check to be returned.
There is no legitimate reason for someone who is giving you money to ask you to wire money back. If a stranger wants to pay you for something, insist on a cashiers check for the exact amount, preferably from a local bank or credit union.
Don’t deposit it – report it! Report counterfeit check scams to your local law enforcement agency.
Tax Related Scams
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued consumer alerts about email and telephone scams that use the IRS name. Some are using the governments economic stimulus rebate checks to commit fraud. Be on the lookout for these and other IRS related scams.
Tax refund email - This email tells the recipient that he or she is eligible for a tax refund, and then instructs the recipient to click on a link in the email to access a refund claim form and enter their personal information and debit card or credit card number.
Audit email – This scam notifies the recipient that their tax return will be audited and instructs the recipient to click on links to complete forms with personal and account information.
Rebate phone call – the scammer identifies himself as an IRS employee, tells the targeted victim that he or she is eligible for a sizeable rebate and then asks for bank account information for direct deposit of the rebate.
Paper check phone call – A scammer claims to be calling because the IRS sent a check to the individual and that check has not been cashed, so the IRS wants to verify the individual’s bank account number.
These calls and emails are scams. Do not respond to them.
Telephone Scams
Phone scam artists call potential victims and try to trick them into sharing personal information by posing as a reputable company that you recognize. Recently caller ID spoofing has emerged as a tool for criminals to make it appear that they are calling from a bank or other financial institution. That helps them convince consumers to divulge account numbers, passwords and other sensitive information.
There are many types of telephone scams. By observing a few basic precautions you can help protect yourself from phone scams.
Never provide your personal or account information, password or credit card security code in response to an unsolicited request. If you did not initiate the communication, you should not provide any information.
To verify if it is a legitimate request contact the company yourself at a number you know to be correct to determine if the call is legitimate.
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