Idaho’s Attorney General is warning consumers of a new scam related to the recent multistate mortgage servicer settlement.
Reports have been made of phone calls and emails from scammers asking for the consumer’s bank account number. Some callers have reportedly posed as bank employees or as third-settlement administrators.
Attorney General Lawrence Wasden says, “Consumers should never give their bank account or credit card numbers to someone who calls them.” People and organizations involved in this settlement will never call asking for a borrower’s bank account number.
Other scammers may offer to help borrowers obtain loan modifications – for a fee. This is unlawful under the Idaho Consumer Protection Act.
“Borrowers do not need to pay anyone to receive assistance with loan modification or refinancing programs,” Wasden said. “Information about the settlement is available through my office and directly from the participating servicers.”
Telephone numbers for the participating servicers are posted on the Attorney General’s settlement website at www.ag.idaho.gov.
Read the article in its entirety on the Attorney General’s website.
As people prepare to file their taxes, scammers are preparing to dupe them out of their returns.
The Better Business Bureau warns about two scams:
1. Small business owners and individuals need to beware of suspicious lookalike emails that mimic the tax preparation software business Intuit. The messages urge recipients to click on a link and update their Social Security Number or Employer ID Number in Intuit’s online system.
Don’t do it. The email is a phishing scam and the link leads to a third-party website that downloads a virus to the users’ computers.
The emails appear to be from “update@intuit.com” or “security@intuit.com” addresses. The messages use a variety of subject lines including: “Please verify your tax information ASAP,” “Correct tax information is needed,” or “Tax information needed within 30 Days.”
If you receive this email, forward it to spoof@intuit.com, and delete the email.
2. An email targeting businesses comes from IRS Tax Notification Department. This spoof email pretends to be from the IRS and claims the recipient will have to pay penalties if they do not click through and provide a reason for missing the January 31 deadline.
Again, don’t do it. Do not click through, file anything or fill out any papers.
Strike the delete key.
If you miss a filing deadline, the IRS will notify your business through the postal service.
Now is the time of year when scam artists are trying to separate you from your money by using income taxes.
Remember, the IRS will never send you an email asking for personal information. Also, beware of accountants who use inflated numbers or fake information to get you a bigger tax refund so that they can ‘share the wealth.’ No matter who prepares your tax return, you sign it and are ultimately responsible. Claiming deductions or credits you are not entitled to is fraudulent.
Don’t give in to temptation to do the wrong thing. For ideas on how to lower your taxes legally, visit MoneyTalksNews.com.
Source: Money Talks News. Watch the video here.
Watch this video from CBS News. Staged accidents like this one added $650 million to the cost of auto insurance in the state of Florida alone in 2011. This is happening everywhere and we are all paying for it. Be outraged!
Fake accidents driving up cost of auto insurance
Report information about insurance fraud to the Idaho Department of Insurance.
Jeri Traughber, Pocatello resident, won $550,000! At least that’s what the caller wanted her to believe. But Traughber was smart and recognized the call for the scam that it really was.
Traughber’s advice to others is simple: Be cautious.
Many scammers successfully convince their victims to send a check to claim their prize. Traughber was lucky. She called the police instead. The scammer called her twice the next day pressuring her to send the check, but she was firm and didn’t give in.
“It just worries me,” she said. “There are so many people who need money, and scam artists will take advantage of you. It’s just scary.”
Following are some common scams that have made the rounds in one form or another:
- Someone sends you a check and asks you to cash it and wire back a portion of the funds.
- A caller claims to be your grandchild who is in trouble and needs you to send money right away.
- A caller announces you have won a big prize. All you have to do is send a check to claim your prize.
Things to remember:
- If you did not initiate the call/contact, do not give out any personal or financial information.
- You can hang up!
- Don’t send money to people you don’t know – no matter what they promise in return.
- If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
“I would say to everybody, be really, really careful,” Traughber said. “It is really scary about this kind of thing because they can get into your bank accounts and (steal) your identity.”
Report phone fraud to the FTC. For more information on how to recognize phone fraud, visit the FTC website.
Information from this article was taken from the Idaho State Journal.
A “living trust” is a trust you create while you are alive. It can help you avoid probate, reduce estate taxes or set up long-term property management.
The advantages of living trusts are sometimes exaggerated by companies who sell them. But the most serious problem is the misuse of the financial information sales persons obtain to prepare a living trust.
Under the guise of helping set up or update a living trust, an unscrupulous sales agent obtains information about seniors’ financial assets and investments and pretends to be an expert financial or estate planner. They may work in assisted living centers, churches and other places where seniors gather, hooking elderly victims through free seminars and other sales presentations. If seniors are not careful, they risk damage to their estate plans, their investments and life savings.
Planning an estate and choosing investments involve important legal, financial and personal decisions. If estate planning documents are not properly prepared or executed they can be invalid and cause lasting damage.
Following are tips to help consumers avoid becoming victims of living trust mills and their scams:
- Living trust mills’ sales agents are usually not attorneys and are not experts in estate planning.
- Watch out for companies that sell trusts and also try to sell annuities or other investments.
- Sales agents may fail to disclose possible adverse tax consequences or early withdrawal penalties that may be incurred when transferring stocks, bonds, certificates of deposit or other investments to annuities.
- An annuity is not 100% safe, and only a portion is guaranteed by the state. Insurance companies can and do fail, and their assets may not be enough to pay the full value of their customers’ investments.
- So called “promissory notes” are not insured by the FDIC or any other government agency and may be very risky. They may not be registered as securities with the state.
- Before consumers buy an annuity or any other investment, they should review it with people they know and trust, such as their financial or tax advisor, their attorney and trusted family members.
Consumers who feel they have been victimized by a living trust mill should report it to the Idaho Department of Insurance, www.doi.idaho.gov.
Information for this article was taken from the California Attorney General’s website.
The National Council on Aging reported that Medicare fraud is one of the most common scams targeting seniors. Medicare fraud can take several forms. Most commonly, scammers are trying to sell products, services and equipment over the phone. Seniors should be especially suspicious of anyone on the phone saying something will be paid for by Medicare.
Idaho Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal says, “Medicare beneficiaries are easy prey. Most beneficiaries have a supplemental policy that picks up what Medicare does not pay leaving seniors vulnerable to pitches for services or equipment.”
Suspicious activity or charges should be reported to the Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program at 800-803-7174. Idahoans can also contact the Department of Insurance Senior Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) at 800-247-4422.
Read the full story or watch the video here.
November and December were riddled with fake BBB complaint emails, and now it’s back! A BBB Accredited Business clicked on the link and lost a hard drive. The email scam is using Better Business Bureau’s name, ‘Start With Trust’ tagline, and is flooding email inboxes across the nation. Emails include a link that appears to be www.bbb.org. THIS IS A SCAM. Don’t be a victim; follow these tips to avoid malware and phishing attacks:
- Do NOT open any attachments (really, don’t do it).
- Do NOT click on any links, even if it looks like a website you know (seriously, don’t click).
- Delete the email from your inbox, and then delete it from again from your trash or recycling folder.
- Run a full system scan using a reputable virus software scanner.
If you do receive one of these emails, please forward it to phishing@council.bbb.org so they can track where they are coming from.
For more tips on this particular scam, read the full article here. We also recommend ‘liking’ the BBB page on Facebook to get up-to-the-minute scam updates.
It doesn’t matter how smart or strong you are. Anyone can fall for a scam if they are taken off guard. The lust for winning weakens good people
A 52-year-old Meridian man was recently taken for thousands of dollars in a sweepstakes scam.
“(The scammers) are really good and they can talk you into stuff. It sounds so official and real,” he says, and asked that his name not be revealed. “And, the amount of money could have helped out our family, especially this time of year.”
For almost a month, he has been fending off calls claiming he was “so close” to receiving his check along with other fraudulent calls that claimed to be from the FBI – a team working to get his money back. He estimates he has received over 200 phone calls.
Red flags that a sweepstakes or lottery is a scam:
- Charging a fee to collect winnings. In legitimate cases, shipping and other fees are taken out of the winnings before the money is sent. Taxes on winnings would be handled with tax returns to the IRS.
- An application stating detailed personal information is required to retrieve the winnings.
- The consumer doesn’t remember entering the contest. Lottery tickets must be purchased, sweepstakes usually involve application paperwork, and government grants have a thorough application process.
- The consumer is asked to forward a portion of the money received back to the organization, sender or to another company to pay for taxes, shipping, fees, etc.
- The name on the check does not match the name of the company or person the consumer is dealing with.
- A lottery application or win announcement comes via telephone or mail from outside the country.
BBB chief storyteller, Robb Hicken, says this scam has been around for years.
“Don’t fall for a sweepstakes scam – international lottery or international sweepstakes,” Hicken says. “They are against the law in the United States, so there is no way you could win this sweepstakes.”
“Your grandson has been injured in an automobile accident in Peru,” the caller says. “He must pay $4,800.00 or go to jail.”
The savvy grandmother on the other end of the line calmly asks for information, explaining that she will have to verify that her grandson is indeed in Peru. Then she calls the Better Business Bureau. She is smart and does not fall for the scam.
Scammers have been using this tactic for some time, but are back and stronger than ever. Social media provides a plethora of personal information for fraudsters to use to get the grandparents to let their guard down.
Anyone who uses social media is advised to limit the amount of personal information that is shared and to “friend” only people they know personally.
If you receive a call asking for help for a grandchild or family member, remain calm. Confirm the individual’s status by calling them directly and verifying the story with other family members.
For more information and details, see the story from the Better Business Bureau.
