Wireless phone scams
This “Hooray, I get free money” scam targets Verizon Wireless customers, but it is easy for fraudsters to adapt it for any other phone company. The crooks call their chosen potential victims and tell them that Verizon is currently doing maintenance, but it will pay their customers $50 for every hour they are deprived of their phone service. The callers even provide a claim number that will allow people to get paid. All they want is 4 last digits of your social security number and your Verizon Wireless password. If you get excited and tell them what they want to know, they now have access to your account.
If you don’t believe in free lunch, crooks may try “Oh, no!” approach. They can tell you that your account is hundreds of dollars in the negative territory and is now locked. Then they ask you for your credit card number and other personal information in order to unlock your account. Whether your cell phone is your main way of communication or it is your emergency lifesaver, high debt can make you nervous even if you are sure you don’t owe anything. As soon as you lose your cool and start sharing personal information, crooks have you scammed and your information is at their disposal.
Providing crooks your personal information allows them to misuse that information in many ways. They can make changes to your account, they can buy phones and send text messages in your name, they can subscribe you to premium services, they may find out more personal information once they log into your account; including other phone numbers there, such as phone numbers of your children, spouses, and parents.
Be careful when you receive a call from your provider. Make sure it’s legitimate or call them yourself.
Better to be safe that sorry.
Refund Pending – really?
Scams used to happen face to face, on the phone or come by mail. Now they often arrive online, mostly through email, instant messaging, or a social network. The message can be general in nature or it can be very narrowly tailored. The most common name of such scams is phishing. One of the latest incarnations preys on PayPal users. It promises them a refund because of a mistake made by PayPal if they will only log into their account. A link is conveniently provided. However, when people imprudently click on that link they are taken to the fraudsters’ site, which imitates PayPal’s. Once fraudsters obtain all the personal information they need, they get access to your PayPal account and many other accounts of yours that use the same authentication information.
Be careful! Never follow the links in your email – only go to web addresses you know. If you get communication from your bank, an agency, or a merchant – go to a web address you normally use to bank, communicate with that agency or shop. Call them if this is your usual way of dealing with whatever organization you think contacted you. It’s all too easy to copy a legitimate message and replace a legitimate link in it with a scam link to a malicious web site.
Whether a message gets you worried, excited, or concerned, do not click in a hurry. It’s better to take a sure route than to deal later with the consequences of being conned.
If it sounds fishy
Last night I got a call from my friend Jane. She said, “I need your advice. I called my credit card’s customer service number and they immediately offered me a voucher to $100 which I can spend any way I want. The only thing they want me to pay is $4 for shipping and handling. They ask for my credit card number and I am not sure if I should give it to them. It’s unusual behavior for my card’s customer service. What should I do?”
I answered, “Is it possible that you misdialed that customer service number? On the internet crooks will often register a web address that is a common typo of a legitimate business web address. Then they can steal information and maybe money too by pretending to be that legitimate business. They can do the same thing with a phone number.”
Later, Jane called me and said that yes, the numbers on the card were so small, she misread that toll-free number. I was very proud of her: most people in her situation would be thrilled to get free $100, would not get suspicious, and would provide lots of their private information to the fraudsters.
When we call someone ourselves, we feel confident that we are talking to the right party. When we misdial a number or mistype a web address, it does not occur to us to check for possible mistakes. I learned a lesson today: double-check a phone number you dial if you are calling your bank, your credit card provider or any other place where you have to provide substantial private information. And if it sounds fishy, triple check before doing something you may regret later.
Be safe!
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