Types of Scams

Scams

There are many variations of scams, but they all seem to have similar attributes. 

Any time you are told to keep it a secret or to not tell anyone, it is usually a red flag.  Always reach out to a friend, family member or other trusted source to verify or just run it by them to get a second opinion. 

If dealing with a message from someone you know, always initiate a new message to a known email address or phone number before sending any money or other information. 

Out of the ordinary situations involving you having to send money, including gift card information, are almost always fraudulent.  

Look at the Social Engineering Red Flags section on the Home page for more on what to look for. 

Gift Card Scams

These usually involve you having to obtain a gift card and provide the number and code on the back. Scammers are able to convert these to cash. 

Refund Scams

A common version of this is that you receive a call from someone claiming to be from Amazon letting you know that you ordered an iPhone (or other popular and expensive items) and ask if you want to cancel the order.  They get you to log into your bank and make it look like they refunded you too much money -- and they usually make it seem like it is your fault.  Now they want "their" money back and will take it in the form of, you guessed it, Gift Cards.

The scammer will tell you to go to your nearest Wal-Mart, Target or Best Buy (or a combination of these, depending on how much they "overpaid" your "refund." 

Grandparent/Ransom Scams

Scammers can get a lot of personal information from Facebook and other social media. This can include relationships. Scammers will target grandparents and call claiming to be the grandchild, or someone in contact with the grandchild, and say that there was an accident or that someone is in jail and needs bail money. This is always accompanied with, "Don't tell my parents!"  

Being told to keep is a secret/not to tell anyone is a warning sign that something is up.  You should always ask someone you trust about a situation involving money or something you do not understand. 

Police and lawyers do not accept gift cards. 

Tech Support Scams

Most tech support scams involve the scammers tricking you into calling them by putting a (usually) harmless, but scary looking, pop up on a compromised web site that makes you think there is a virus on your computer.  When you call the fake number, it is routed to a call center and the "operator" will try to sell you worthless software to fix the problem that you do not really have. 

When confronted, these scammers say that you called them and agreed to make the purchase, so it is your responsibility. 

Unfortunately, scammers often are able to promote their fraudulent pages in the Google searches, so make sure you have the right phone number for who you are trying to call. 

IRS/Social Security/Medicare/Romance Scam

Also known as Imposter Scams, these are all variants of posing as someone you trust (or come to trust, in the case of the Romance Scam) and asking for money. 

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) will not call you to demand money. 

Medicare will not call you to verify your information because there is a problem with your account. 

Sheriff's offices and police departments will not call you to tell you that there is a warrant for your arrest. 

Watch for fake package delivery texts that claim to be from USPS, UPS ro FedEx. They may tell you that you have a package that got misdirected and they need information to get it to you, maybe for a "small fee."

Phone numbers can be spoofed to make it seem like the call is coming from any legitimate number, so be careful.

Job Scams

This is usually a too-good-to-be-true job involving an amount of money just a bit higher than should be believable. The catch is usually that you have to provide your bank information or pay for some kind of job training kit. This is all designed to get your bank or credit card information.