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Written by admin on April 29th, 2010

Scammers Follow the News to Find the Next Scam

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When the Haiti earthquake hit, it did not take long for the scammers to get to work. Unfortunately, scammers watch the news and get their newest ideas for scams from headlining reports. In the case of Haiti, thieves were trying to steal cash donations or attempting to get personal information from consumers that could be used to access their banking accounts or credit cards.

One of the signs a scam is in progress is when consumers suddenly see emails requesting personal information or get phone calls asking for the same and the donation being requested is for something in the headlines. According to the Federal Trade Commission it’s a fact that scam artists use headline news such as disasters to ply their trade.

Americans are generous people and want to help those in need. This provides the perfect scenario for scammers. The con artists can pull at the consumers’ heartstrings and convince them to make donations. The fact the cause has been in the headlines seems to give it legitimacy.

The con artists will use any headline too. For example, a year ago the rebate checks mailed by the Internal Revenue Service gave scammers yet another opportunity to fool people into giving their personal information. The con artists claimed to be the IRS holding a rebate for the consumer. All that was needed to release the check, according to the con artist, was some information like social security number and bank account number for automatic deposit.

News of the rebate had been appearing on television for weeks so the consumer believes the person on the phone is legitimate. The same type of scam frequently perpetrated involves a con artist pretending to be a Social Security representative. The person says they have money due the consumer but needs to know where to deposit it. The consumer then gives out personal information.

Senior citizens are particularly vulnerable to government scams.

A bank or government agency will never ask for personal information over the phone. They also do not send out unsolicited emails. That makes it easy to avoid being scammed. Just simply make it a practice to never give out personal information over the phone nor should you respond to unsolicited emails asking for things like bank account or credit card numbers.

Any consumer getting a call like this should simply say “no” and hang up. But you should report all such calls or emails to the bank, government agency misrepresented, or the state attorney general office. You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

One of the ways to stay ahead of the sophisticated con artists is to know what is going on in the news. The relationship between the news and types of scams is well documented. It makes it easier to identify some scams and avoid losing assets or identity. Unfortunately some of these con artists are interested in stealing someone’s identity and then using that identity for long term thefts.

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