Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Top 10 Scams of the New Year
1. Identity Theft -- We all are aware about it, but anyhow very difficult to stop. ID theft occurs when frauds steal personal information from your garbage, mailbox, recycling bin, or computer. They further store all documents containing your personal information in a locked file and cut before discarding. You need to keep all your personal identification numbers very confidential. Do monitor your account statements and your credit report on monthly basis. If you suspect a victim of ID theft, contact local police immediately.
2. Internet Fraud -- Beware of fake Web sites, e-mails and phone calls from spammers pretending to legitimate business asking for your banking and personal information. You can enter you personal or credit card information on secured Web sites. Look for the letter “s” (http://) and for an unbroken padlock symbol to determine if in case the site is secured. Check for the BBBOnLine Reliability Seal or even other sign of trust on each Web site. Please do not download programs on your computer from any unknown sources.
3. Advance Fee Loans -- When seeking a loan, it's against the law rule for the provider to ask you to pay for their services until you get your loan or credit. Lawful lenders never "guarantee" or say that you are probable to get a loan or a credit card before you apply, particularly if you have bad credit, no credit or a bankruptcy.
4. Work from Home -- Work at home ideas, such as envelope stuffing and product gathering, are not what they're split up to be. The Internet has seriously increased the number of these scams. Look out for open fees for supplies, claims of no experience needed and exaggerated claims of effectiveness.
5. Nigerian Letter Scam -- The Nigerian letter scam carries on proliferating. This scam are regularly received by e-mail, claims there are millions of dollars waiting to be deposited into your personal glance account. But these scammers are only after your checking account information. Best thing to do is completely ignore them.
6. Lottery and Sweepstakes Scams -- Victims are informed they have won a huge lottery prize or sweepstakes and are sent a false check for part of the "winnings." In return, they are asked to pay back a little part to cover taxes and/or processing fees before the remainder of the "winnings" is sent. Legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes contests would not need you to pay money in order to receive your prize. Foreign lotteries are against the law in the United States.
7. Overpayment Schemes -- This is how it works: You may advertise your car for sale. The scammer agrees to purchase your car, but gives you a check for too much money. He takes the car, and tells you to deposit the check in to your account for the credit, and then send him your check for the difference. By the time you find out his original check is no good, he has your check and the car. Never agree to payment for more than your selling price.
8. Home Repair Rip-offs -- More and more, unreliable scam artists show up on your entrance offering to do house and yard work for various costs. Don't hire them. When you need work done around your home, get guess from a minimum of three contractors who have stable addresses in your area.
9. Health, Beauty & Fitness Claims -- Beware of advertisements, which promise "rapid and easy weight-loss," "miracle cures" or "recently discovered" treatments for disease and illness. Before signing any agreement, take the time to read the fine print and make sure you understand your obligations and the termination or refund policy.
10. Bogus Charities -- Watch out for bogus charities with names, which sound like legitimate ones. Ask fund-raisers for their names, the charitable trust names and their contact information before allowing for a donation. Find out how much of your contribution actually goes to the program. Visit www.give.org for a list of national charities.
2. Internet Fraud -- Beware of fake Web sites, e-mails and phone calls from spammers pretending to legitimate business asking for your banking and personal information. You can enter you personal or credit card information on secured Web sites. Look for the letter “s” (http://) and for an unbroken padlock symbol to determine if in case the site is secured. Check for the BBBOnLine Reliability Seal or even other sign of trust on each Web site. Please do not download programs on your computer from any unknown sources.
3. Advance Fee Loans -- When seeking a loan, it's against the law rule for the provider to ask you to pay for their services until you get your loan or credit. Lawful lenders never "guarantee" or say that you are probable to get a loan or a credit card before you apply, particularly if you have bad credit, no credit or a bankruptcy.
4. Work from Home -- Work at home ideas, such as envelope stuffing and product gathering, are not what they're split up to be. The Internet has seriously increased the number of these scams. Look out for open fees for supplies, claims of no experience needed and exaggerated claims of effectiveness.
5. Nigerian Letter Scam -- The Nigerian letter scam carries on proliferating. This scam are regularly received by e-mail, claims there are millions of dollars waiting to be deposited into your personal glance account. But these scammers are only after your checking account information. Best thing to do is completely ignore them.
6. Lottery and Sweepstakes Scams -- Victims are informed they have won a huge lottery prize or sweepstakes and are sent a false check for part of the "winnings." In return, they are asked to pay back a little part to cover taxes and/or processing fees before the remainder of the "winnings" is sent. Legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes contests would not need you to pay money in order to receive your prize. Foreign lotteries are against the law in the United States.
7. Overpayment Schemes -- This is how it works: You may advertise your car for sale. The scammer agrees to purchase your car, but gives you a check for too much money. He takes the car, and tells you to deposit the check in to your account for the credit, and then send him your check for the difference. By the time you find out his original check is no good, he has your check and the car. Never agree to payment for more than your selling price.
8. Home Repair Rip-offs -- More and more, unreliable scam artists show up on your entrance offering to do house and yard work for various costs. Don't hire them. When you need work done around your home, get guess from a minimum of three contractors who have stable addresses in your area.
9. Health, Beauty & Fitness Claims -- Beware of advertisements, which promise "rapid and easy weight-loss," "miracle cures" or "recently discovered" treatments for disease and illness. Before signing any agreement, take the time to read the fine print and make sure you understand your obligations and the termination or refund policy.
10. Bogus Charities -- Watch out for bogus charities with names, which sound like legitimate ones. Ask fund-raisers for their names, the charitable trust names and their contact information before allowing for a donation. Find out how much of your contribution actually goes to the program. Visit www.give.org for a list of national charities.
Lottery Scams - Don't be the Next Victim
I must be the luckiest person alive. In the past three days I found out I won 1.5 Million Euros in the UK lottery, One Million Euros in the Winx International Lottery, 1.5 Million Euros in the 2007 E-Mail Lottery, and 500,000 Pounds in an e-mail lottery held by the Coca Cola Company. Wow! What did I do to receive all these riches?
The sad truth is there are actually people who fall for these schemes. For the promise of a quick buck (or million Euros as the case may be) people will turn over their bank account numbers, wire money in the hopes of getting more back, or give other information that could lead to identity theft.
These lottery and sweepstakes schemes have gone on long before the internet, with one of the oldest being the phony sweepstakes which required an entrance fee to claim your prize, which amounted to more than the “prize” was worth. Another variation of that scheme was requiring the potential “winner” to call a certain number to find out if he or she was a winner. The phone call cost the potential “winner” a certain amount per minute with an unusually-long wait time on hold. The real winner was the scamming company which made money off the phone calls.
Today’s thieves have a wide choice of scam-delivery mechanisms, including in person, the mail, phone and internet. However, the same holds true no matter how the scam is delivered: if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
How Can You Recognize the Lottery or Sweepstakes Scam?
There are certainly legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes offers. Who hasn’t bought a state or multi-state lottery ticket from their local lottery retailer? Or, who hasn’t seen one of those sweepstakes offered by a recognized company advertising in the coupon section of the Sunday newspaper? You fill out the entry form or reasonable facsimile (usually a 3”x5” card) with your name and address and send it off.
Therein is your biggest clue as to whether you’re the victim of a scam. In a legitimate lottery or sweepstakes you have bought the ticket or entered your name and address. In a scam lottery or sweepstakes you are notified you’ve won when you haven’t even entered or bought a ticket.
In addition, it’s illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders, whether national or state lines. Any lottery offer involving the purchase of lottery tickets for other state or country lotteries could end up with you being charged with illegal activities.
One ploy used by foreign scammers involving lotteries or sweepstakes is offering you an “advance” on your winnings. The scam artist will send you a check for part of your “winnings.” All you have to do is wire them payment for “taxes” or other official purposes. By the time you find out their check has bounced the money you wired is in their hands. And, because it was wired it’s harder to trace.
Lottery scammers don’t always use e-mail or the phone. Sometimes they do their dirty work in person. A typical scam would go something like this: You are approached in person by someone who claims he or she just won the lottery but isn’t eligible to claim it. They offer to split the money with you if you claim the prize. Sounds good, right? Except that before you claim the prize from the lottery retailer you are required to withdraw some money from your account and give it to the ticket holder as a good-faith gesture. By the time you find out you’re holding a non-winning lottery ticket, the thief is long-gone with your good-faith money.
In order to protect yourself from these scams, it’s important to remember the following:
Lotteries
• It’s illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders.
• If you ever receive a phone call, letter or e-mail announcing you just won a lottery, it’s a scam.
Sweepstakes
• It’s illegal for a company to require you to pay to win or claim a sweepstakes prize.
• It’s illegal for a company to suggest that buying something will improve your chances of winning.
• Companies cannot ask for money from you for taxes they say you owe on a sweepstakes winning.
• Be cautious when entering sweepstakes from displays you see in malls – often times these are people just wanting your name and address for a future sweepstakes scam.
• Only enter sweepstakes from recognizable companies, and never pay a fee to enter.
Avoiding being the victim of a scam takes a healthy dose of skepticism. If you are ever unsure about the legitimacy of an offer made to you, you can call the National Fraud Information Center’s Hotline at 1-800-876-7060.
The sad truth is there are actually people who fall for these schemes. For the promise of a quick buck (or million Euros as the case may be) people will turn over their bank account numbers, wire money in the hopes of getting more back, or give other information that could lead to identity theft.
These lottery and sweepstakes schemes have gone on long before the internet, with one of the oldest being the phony sweepstakes which required an entrance fee to claim your prize, which amounted to more than the “prize” was worth. Another variation of that scheme was requiring the potential “winner” to call a certain number to find out if he or she was a winner. The phone call cost the potential “winner” a certain amount per minute with an unusually-long wait time on hold. The real winner was the scamming company which made money off the phone calls.
Today’s thieves have a wide choice of scam-delivery mechanisms, including in person, the mail, phone and internet. However, the same holds true no matter how the scam is delivered: if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
How Can You Recognize the Lottery or Sweepstakes Scam?
There are certainly legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes offers. Who hasn’t bought a state or multi-state lottery ticket from their local lottery retailer? Or, who hasn’t seen one of those sweepstakes offered by a recognized company advertising in the coupon section of the Sunday newspaper? You fill out the entry form or reasonable facsimile (usually a 3”x5” card) with your name and address and send it off.
Therein is your biggest clue as to whether you’re the victim of a scam. In a legitimate lottery or sweepstakes you have bought the ticket or entered your name and address. In a scam lottery or sweepstakes you are notified you’ve won when you haven’t even entered or bought a ticket.
In addition, it’s illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders, whether national or state lines. Any lottery offer involving the purchase of lottery tickets for other state or country lotteries could end up with you being charged with illegal activities.
One ploy used by foreign scammers involving lotteries or sweepstakes is offering you an “advance” on your winnings. The scam artist will send you a check for part of your “winnings.” All you have to do is wire them payment for “taxes” or other official purposes. By the time you find out their check has bounced the money you wired is in their hands. And, because it was wired it’s harder to trace.
Lottery scammers don’t always use e-mail or the phone. Sometimes they do their dirty work in person. A typical scam would go something like this: You are approached in person by someone who claims he or she just won the lottery but isn’t eligible to claim it. They offer to split the money with you if you claim the prize. Sounds good, right? Except that before you claim the prize from the lottery retailer you are required to withdraw some money from your account and give it to the ticket holder as a good-faith gesture. By the time you find out you’re holding a non-winning lottery ticket, the thief is long-gone with your good-faith money.
In order to protect yourself from these scams, it’s important to remember the following:
Lotteries
• It’s illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders.
• If you ever receive a phone call, letter or e-mail announcing you just won a lottery, it’s a scam.
Sweepstakes
• It’s illegal for a company to require you to pay to win or claim a sweepstakes prize.
• It’s illegal for a company to suggest that buying something will improve your chances of winning.
• Companies cannot ask for money from you for taxes they say you owe on a sweepstakes winning.
• Be cautious when entering sweepstakes from displays you see in malls – often times these are people just wanting your name and address for a future sweepstakes scam.
• Only enter sweepstakes from recognizable companies, and never pay a fee to enter.
Avoiding being the victim of a scam takes a healthy dose of skepticism. If you are ever unsure about the legitimacy of an offer made to you, you can call the National Fraud Information Center’s Hotline at 1-800-876-7060.
What You May Not Know About Your Tax Rebate/Economic Stimulus Check
Have you already received your Tax Rebate check, or as they are now referred to, Economic Stimulus Check? Do you know the facts about this check? Do you know how yours will be delivered? Do you have important plans for your check? Just getting by? Paying off bills? No matter what you have planned our first concern is for the safe delivery of the check. With so many rumors floating around I decided to some research and find out more about the Economic Stimulus Check and dispel the myths surrounding it.
The Economic Stimulus Check is a tax rebate to taxpayers as a result of several income tax changes. Payments are sent out over the course of several weeks, with the mailing date to vary according the last two digits of the taxpayers Social Security number. For tax payers who filed electronically and had their tax refund direct deposited (or payment direct withdrawal) your income tax rebate will be direct deposited to your bank that was used for your deposit or payment. Taxpayers who submitted their income tax return via mail will have their checks issued the same day as those who filed electronically, however, their payments will be delivered via regular U.S. mail. If you have not paid your taxes or filed your return yet, your rebate will be held until that step is completed.
Many already know the amount to be issued to tax payers: $600.00 for individual taxpayer, $1200.00 for married filing jointly, and a possible $300.00 per qualifying child, born after December, 1990. However, many people do not know that they may not receive those amounts. It is possible that your Economic Stimulus Check may be offset by back taxes owed, unpaid student loans and several other government factors. How will this affect you? It is hard to tell, and you won't know your exact amount until your check arrives.
With the availability of money and the use of technology, it is no wonder that a new phishing scam has been created regarding the Economic Stimulus Check. Phishing scams are emails that attempt to lure you to a website to gain personal or financial information. One of the newest scams is a message that appears to be from the Internal Revenue Service delivered to your email address. And like many other phishing scams this message appears to be authentic and legitimate, especially since many tax payers file electronically and use their email address to confirm their filing status.
This message is used to gain your name, address, social security and even bank account information and provides you with a link to a website and the instructions to "click the link below and fill out the necessary information to receive your 2008 Stimulus Economic Refund." If you do click the link, you are at the very least verifying that the message was sent to a "real" email address, leaving yourself open to other phishing scams, even if you do not complete the "form."
The Internal Revenue Service website requests that if you receive this message you forward it to phishing@irs.gov. Do not open it. Not only can this message be a phishing scam but it could also contain viruses harmful to your computer. The information stolen is all that is needed to intercept your Economic Stimulus check or even to steal your identity.
Many antivirus and email programs contain phishing detection, but if you don't, or if you are worried about the quality of the messages you receive you may look into purchasing an antivirus software system that also provides phishing scam detection, such as Stopzilla, F-Secure Internet Security Suite, or AVG Internet Security (one of the for pay products) Trend Micro PC-cillin and many more antivirus products are designing their software to detect and stop phishing scams before they can do harm to your computer, information and credit.
Have all your questions regarding your Economic Stimulus Check answered at the official IRS.gov website. Not only does it offer a section of Frequently Asked Questions, but it also provides the opportunity to legitimately check the status of your check.
The Economic Stimulus Check is a tax rebate to taxpayers as a result of several income tax changes. Payments are sent out over the course of several weeks, with the mailing date to vary according the last two digits of the taxpayers Social Security number. For tax payers who filed electronically and had their tax refund direct deposited (or payment direct withdrawal) your income tax rebate will be direct deposited to your bank that was used for your deposit or payment. Taxpayers who submitted their income tax return via mail will have their checks issued the same day as those who filed electronically, however, their payments will be delivered via regular U.S. mail. If you have not paid your taxes or filed your return yet, your rebate will be held until that step is completed.
Many already know the amount to be issued to tax payers: $600.00 for individual taxpayer, $1200.00 for married filing jointly, and a possible $300.00 per qualifying child, born after December, 1990. However, many people do not know that they may not receive those amounts. It is possible that your Economic Stimulus Check may be offset by back taxes owed, unpaid student loans and several other government factors. How will this affect you? It is hard to tell, and you won't know your exact amount until your check arrives.
With the availability of money and the use of technology, it is no wonder that a new phishing scam has been created regarding the Economic Stimulus Check. Phishing scams are emails that attempt to lure you to a website to gain personal or financial information. One of the newest scams is a message that appears to be from the Internal Revenue Service delivered to your email address. And like many other phishing scams this message appears to be authentic and legitimate, especially since many tax payers file electronically and use their email address to confirm their filing status.
This message is used to gain your name, address, social security and even bank account information and provides you with a link to a website and the instructions to "click the link below and fill out the necessary information to receive your 2008 Stimulus Economic Refund." If you do click the link, you are at the very least verifying that the message was sent to a "real" email address, leaving yourself open to other phishing scams, even if you do not complete the "form."
The Internal Revenue Service website requests that if you receive this message you forward it to phishing@irs.gov. Do not open it. Not only can this message be a phishing scam but it could also contain viruses harmful to your computer. The information stolen is all that is needed to intercept your Economic Stimulus check or even to steal your identity.
Many antivirus and email programs contain phishing detection, but if you don't, or if you are worried about the quality of the messages you receive you may look into purchasing an antivirus software system that also provides phishing scam detection, such as Stopzilla, F-Secure Internet Security Suite, or AVG Internet Security (one of the for pay products) Trend Micro PC-cillin and many more antivirus products are designing their software to detect and stop phishing scams before they can do harm to your computer, information and credit.
Have all your questions regarding your Economic Stimulus Check answered at the official IRS.gov website. Not only does it offer a section of Frequently Asked Questions, but it also provides the opportunity to legitimately check the status of your check.
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