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Halloween is just around the corner, and while you may be excited to carve pumpkins and pick out the perfect costume, beware of some real-life spooks lurking in the shadows: Scammers and fraudsters. What once may have been easily detectable has taken on many different shapes and forms as technology progresses, making it more challenging to determine whether your finances are secure. 

That’s why we’re diving into four different spooky scams to watch out for this Halloween (as well as the rest of the year).  

Cybercrime

Undoubtedly the most dynamic method of scamming, cybercrime has evolved over the years and will likely continue to do so. What was once simply a fake e-mail or website has since grown beyond these methods and into more technologically advanced ones! 

Tactics now may involve ransomware, primarily used to lock you out of important documents and files until the criminals receive a ransom, or even phone calls pretending to be a tech support company to gain access to your private information. However, technology development has benefitted both sides, and many preventative measures exist to avoid these scams. Some of the following are things you can easily do to help ensure your information is protected:

• Use a firewall to protect your computer
• Create strong passwords and share them only when necessary
• Don’t respond to spam e-mails (of which most e-mail providers will try to assist with notifying you of this)
• Monitor your financial accounts regularly for fraudulent activity
• Don’t visit suspicious websites or follow links to sources you don’t trust

Debt Settlement Programs

Something that you may not be aware of is debt settlement programs, or even that these companies can also be a front for scammers. While these programs do exist, some are merely disguised scams promising services of Advance Fee Loans or even Credit Repair. The Advance Fee Loans claim to guarantee a specified loan in return for a fee paid to the company in advance. However, be wary of how this offer is presented, as it may be illegal. 

While many creditors can offer credit extensions for a small fee in advance, a legitimate creditor will never guarantee you will get the loan. In fact, under the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, a seller who guarantees or represents a high likelihood of you getting a loan or extension of credit may not ask for – or accept – payment until the loan is received. Credit Repair companies similarly promise to clean up poor credit reports for a fee. However, anything these companies claim they can do, you also can for free. You can always correct inaccurate information on file and make a conscientious effort to repay your debts. 

No service can legally remove accurate negative information from your credit report, regardless of their claims. Suppose you decide to use a credit repair clinic to clean up inaccurate information. In that case, it’s important to note that Federal and some state laws ban these companies from charging a fee until they have fully performed the service advertised as well.

Government Imposters

Sometimes, scammers claim to be government officials to aid in their crimes. 

They’ll then use this to try and achieve a single goal: getting you to send them money. As you may have guessed, federal government agencies and employees will never ask you to send them money for whatever reason. They are not permitted to ask you to wire money or add it to a prepaid debit card and will never do so. The two biggest indicators of these scams are someone telling you that you’ve won a federally supervised lottery or sweepstakes or, even more commonly, that you owe a fake debt. While it may be hard to conclude whether these people are imposters or real government officials, here are some ways to ensure you always beat the scammer:

• Don’t wire money
• Don’t pay for a prize
• Don’t give the caller your financial or personal information
• Don’t trust a name or number
• If necessary, put your number on the National Do Not Call Registry – donotcall.gov

Tax Fraud

Aside from the previously mentioned scams, once a cybercriminal has your name and Social Security number, they can now file a tax return in your name to generate a large refund. The IRS doesn’t require W-2 forms when filing electronically, making this kind of forgery much more effortless than paper tax fraud. This can easily be prevented using some of the previously listed suggestions on sharing personal info, along with carrying the minimum amount of identification materials on you at a time and destroying any documents with said information once they aren’t needed. Doing things such as carrying your social security card on you at all times puts you more at risk of having your identity stolen. Also, before throwing away any statements or documents containing personal information, send them through a paper shredder or manually tear them up.  

While this information certainly shouldn’t be ignored, don’t let it scare you more than it should! Following the mentioned preventative measures are a simple and easy way to help prevent you from becoming part of one of these scams. Suppose you ever feel as though you have been scammed or know someone else who recently has been. In that case, you can always report the scam in several ways such as filing a complaint at ftc.gov/complaint, and include the date along with the time of the scam call, the name the imposter used, all the information they mentioned (including the amount of money and payment method), and the traceable information of the scammer such as their phone number or fake e-mail.  Finally, don’t forget to let a First Community Representative know about your concern so we can take additional action if needed!

 Happy Halloween, First Community members!