Hello? Is this a scam?
Everyone likes free stuff, but sometimes things seem only too great to be real. This specific scam usually goes off by notifying you that you’ve won the holiday to some strange venue or favorite traveling destination, like Walt Disney World. Or the caller can pay a fee (sometimes notifying you that you’ve won the lottery). The key here is that the scammer would need you to pay a little fee in order to take this award, for which you’ll have to get the payment card number. Don’ ’t do it! Victims may and have been taken for thousands of dollars.
Telephone scams have existed about as long as landlines have been. But thanks to the growth of smartphones, almost everyone gets their device on them in almost all moments — thinking there are more chances for callers to deceive you with false claims, pleas for help, Or even the hope of a free holiday. Though some accept that it’s just those old who come for such seemingly apparent ploys, these scams are growing increasingly sophisticated, and only about anyone will fall victim to them.
Last year alone, Americans suffered more than $ 73 million to call imposter scams, tells this FTC — but the amount is most certainly the fall in this bucket, since most victims don’t report these scams out of fear, Pain or shame. Cases of imposter scams doubled between 2009 and 2013, tells that Select commission on ageing. This is why it attempts greater discovery of these crimes, more prosecutions, and greater user safeguards on the role of retailers and telephone companies whose products and services are frequently used during the transactions.
The Bureau says that telephone scams are even “ a great threat to taxpayers. ” this reason phishing and telephone scams topped the 2019 “ Dirty Dozen ” list. This common thread in this database, according to the Bureau: Scams placed taxpayers at risk. As a message, This Bureau would never threaten to directly call in local cops or other law-enforcement groups to get you arrested for not giving or require that you give taxes without leaving you this opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe. Fax tax authority; as taxpayers grow more aware of scams, these bad guys are also shifting gears. Some taxpayers are aware that the IRS would never ask to demand direct cost over the telephone, nor can the IRS ask about taxes owed without first having sent you the bill. Today, scammers are trying to deceive taxpayers by sending the text first. This document threatens the IRS lien or charge using bogus overdue taxes owed to a nonexistent agency called the “ office of Tax Enforcement. ” There is no such authority. This lien request may also reference the IRS to have you believe that this document is valid. The IRS has been in business for years and it does not have any jurisdiction over your personal finances.
In an interview with Newsday, “The best way to control this is through education,” said Robert Vessichelli, an investigator for PSEG Long Island, speaking on a relatively new scheme to bilk unsuspecting customers. Vessichelli said the utility has seen thousands of reports of attempts by would-be criminals who impersonate PSEG employees in increasingly believable telephone scams, adding that as many as 6,624 such calls were reported last year alone, 4,088 in 2018, and over 16,000 since 2013.
Bruce Sackman told Newsday that he nearly was a vicitm. Sackman is a retired federal investigator himself and author of two books on criminal investigations.
Sackman told Newsday, he received a voicemail message last week advising him to call the utility on an 800 number, which he did and was told he was three months in arrears and must deliver $600 to the utility that day using a prepaid debit card. “He sounded like an employee from PSEG,” said Sackman, adding that the scam was so convincing that he was tempted to pay up. But he called up his bill on his smartphone and explained to the fake employee that he had paid the bills. He finally asked, “Is this a scam?”
“Phone scammers want their targets to panic so they don’t think clearly,” said Rick Walden, vice president of customer operations for PSEG Long Island according to Newsday.
