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You see an infomercial, or an ad online, saying you can learn how to make lots of money. It sounds quick, easy, and low risk —
You receive a call or text that appears to be coming from First State Bank - a tactic known as spoofing - fraudsters then try to gain personal information from you by using scare tactics like fraud on an account.
Gain valuable insights into common scams, identity theft, and steps you can take to safeguard your finances.
Romance Scams On The Rise; Here’s How To Protect Your Heart—And Wallet
If your heart is set on finding love, you may find yourself looking online for it. Online dating sites are a popular way to meet people who share your own desire to meet someone special. While many couples have found success with it, beware: these sites are increasingly becoming a breeding ground for criminals looking to prey on the vulnerable emotions of others.
People turning to the internet for love lost a total of $1.4 billion to romance scams in 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Fraud experts say romance scams are especially insidious because scammers prey on emotions, are expert at understanding human behavior, and know how to use (and abuse) emotional trigger points.
As romance scams grow, it’s important to know what they are and what you can do to protect yourself. If you have a friend, family member, or loved one who may be vulnerable to romance scams, be sure to alert them as well.
How Romance Scams Work
In romance scams, a criminal will create a fake identity to gain your affection and trust to manipulate you emotionally and steal your money or personal information, reports the FBI.
While it takes time, trust, and commitment to build a real relationship, scammers will establish a relationship with you as quickly as possible. As you feel swept up in their love bombing game, they’ll ask you for money. Remember, these scammers are professionals—they know exactly what they’re doing, and come across genuine, caring and believable. Often, they will falsely portray themselves as being in the building or construction industry and engaged in projects outside the U.S., which makes it easy to avoid meeting in person. Eventually they will ask for money from you. Common reasons include covering a medical emergency or unexpected legal fee. They may ask you for your bank account information, so they can make a deposit to it; in reality, they plan to use your account to carry out other theft and fraud schemes.
Romance Scam Red Flags
Watch out for these common red flags associated with romance scams, according to AARP.
Protect Yourself
The FBI offers the following tips to protect yourself from romance scams:
Have You Been a Victim?
If you think you’ve been targeted in a romance scam, stop all contact with the scammer immediately. You can visit the Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov/), which is the central hub for reporting cyber-enabled crime, to file a complaint.
How To Spot a Cash App Scam
If you use Cash App, be sure you know the common scams associated with it, how they work, and how to protect yourself from being a victim. Cash App is a popular mobile platform that allows you to send, receive and store money. It has features like direct deposit, savings accounts, and investments, as well as the ability to link your debit card for purchases and withdrawals. Cash App’s ease of use, widespread popularity, and permanent nature of transactions have drawn sophisticated scammers to the platform in search of easy prey. To prevent being a victim of fraud, here are some tips to recognize scams and keep your money safe while using the app.
Common Types of Scams
Best practices for avoiding these scams
Don’t Fall for These Latest Gift Card Scams
Gift cards make gift giving easy and practical. Because they’re so accessible—and like cash, hard to trace—criminals are using them as a convenient form of payment in their scams, stealing from unsuspecting victims.
How does it work?
Scammers will reach out by phone, email, text, or social media, asking you to purchase gift cards to pay a bill, fee or some other debt or obligation, or to claim a prize. They may tell you which gift cards to buy, and which stores to purchase them from—even staying on the phone with you while you do it. Sometimes they’ll tell you to buy cards at several stores, so cashiers won’t get suspicious.
These scammers will pretend to be someone you trust such as a business representative, service provider (like a utility company), government official (like the IRS), coworker, colleague, supervisor, friend, tech support representative, family member in distress, or romantic interest on a dating site.
With a sense of urgency, they will insist you buy gift cards from various stores and that you provide them with the gift card number and PIN as a means of paying something quickly to avoid a consequence (such as a service disconnection or tax penalty) or to claim your prize. If this happens to you, beware, because you are being scammed. If someone is asking you to pay by gift card, it’s always a scam. No real business or government agency will ever tell you to buy gift cards to pay them.
Common Gift Card Scams
Scammers tell different stories to get you to buy gift cards so they can steal your money. Here are some common gift card scams, according to the Federal Trade Commission:
Protect yourself
Remember, only scammers will tell you to buy a gift card and give them the numbers off the back of the card. No matter what they say, it’s a scam. If you fell for the scam, you’re not alone. Be sure to report the gift card scam to the gift card company right away. No matter how long ago the scam happened, report it and ask for your money back. Some companies are helping stop gift card scams and might give your money back. It’s worth asking. Be sure to report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Every report makes a difference.
Protect Yourself from Identity Theft and Fraud
Many of us believe in hard work, honesty, and treating people right. But there’s a growing population of thieves who prey on people’s trust, stealing their identities and committing fraud. Once you’ve been a victim, it’s often a long and hard road to recovery. It’s why prevention is so important—and it’s easy too, once you know what to do. Let’s go over the warning signs of identity theft, how it happens, and how to protect yourself
Warning signs
Identity theft happens when someone uses your personal or financial information without your permission. They may get your name, addresses, credit card or Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, and even medical insurance account numbers. Often people aren’t aware that this information has been compromised—until later when you get bills for items you did not buy, debt collection calls for accounts you did not open, information on your credit report for accounts you did not open, denials of loan applications, and mail stops coming to or is missing from your mailbox.
How it happens
There are several ways that scammers can steal your identity, including in person, online, through social media, and by phone, reports USAGov. Scammers may:
Be Proactive
Here are some action steps you can take to help safeguard your personal information so that you don’t become a victim of identity theft.
Many companies offer monitoring services, recovery services, and identity theft insurance. You may want to check these out for added protection. If you think someone stole your identity, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You’ll get a free personal recovery plan with next steps.
If you spot a scam, please report it to the Federal Trade Commission.