CYTT News
[14/03/2011] More than one million complaints to the FTC
The complaints about identity theft, Lottery and Sweepstakes scams, and Internet auctions toppled 1.3 million in 2010, and identity theft continues to be on top of the list for 11th year in a row. Fraudsters are using new ways to convince unsuspected victims to hand them over their personal and financial information and go as far as posing as IRS and other government agents. Another group of complaints, which is on top of the list, is the debt collectors, who are most commonly reported to be harassing consumers and making claims that are not true. The so-called “grandparent scam” has made the list for a first time and more often than not the victims are elderly people that wire money to strangers, calming to be friends or family members.
FCT officials have issued a number of commonly used methods or words that consumers should watch for and which could help them identify possible scams:
- If you receive a check for a service that you offer or product that you sell, which check pays higher than the agreed amount, then this is commonly a scam. Often, the issuer would ask you to wire the difference, after which the check will bounce and you will lose the money that you have wired.
- Beware of “government officials,” who call you over the phone and ask you for financial or personal information. Agencies such as FBI or IRS contact people with an official mail, and no agency ever runs contests or sweepstakes.
- Receiving a call, informing you that you have won a prize and have to act quickly in order to keep it is often a scam. You would be asked to send a “small” amount of money to secure the prize and once you do so, you would never hear back from the same caller.
- Beware of people calling on the phone, calming to be friends or family members and asking you to wire money in order to get them out of trouble. Most often, the caller claims to be a close relative that has been involved in a car accident and needs cash quickly in order to pay bail or hire a lawyer to help them.
Other articles from this category:
[14/03/2011] The top 10 consumer complaints
[14/03/2011] More than 1billion AUD lost in online scams
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