A scam is defined as a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation and we are being bombarded with new and more deceptive scams everyday. They fill our email inboxes, voicemails, text messages, social media, and mailboxes on a daily basis.
Some of the more common scams are:
Identity Theft(stealing personal information to open new accounts)
Romance Scams(creating fake social media profiles to manipulate people)
Imposter Scams(impersonating legitimate organizations like the IRS)
Tech Support Scams(pretending to help people fix nonexistent computer problems)
Online Shopping Scams(creating fake stores that are selling fake products)
Job Scams(offering fake jobs that require an upfront fee)
Extortion Scams(threatening to tell friends, family, or the police about made-up online activity if not paid large sums of money)
Prize Scams(notifying you that you won something, but requires an upfront fee)
Investment Scams(promising high returns on a Ponzi scheme)
Phishing Scams(using disguised emails, text messages, and phone calls to gather personal information).
It's highly likely that most of us have been a victim of a scam or know someone who has. A few moths ago, I received a text message and phone call stating that my health savings account card had fraudulent charges and needed to verification. As I was answering the gentleman's questions, I started to get suspicious as the questions got more personal. I'm a little embarrassed at how long it took me to realize it was a scam, but this guy was good. Thankfully, I hung up the phone and immediately disabled my card while requesting a new one. My own manager got duped into paying a fake toll recently and had to cancel his card. In his defense, he does travel toll roads frequently. These things can happen to any of us.
There are some things we can do to help protect ourselves:
Verify email addresses
Be suspicious of easy money offers
Use strong passwords to protect personal information
Report scams
Reach out to friends and family
Consider identity theft insurance
Please reach out with any questions.