Better Business Bureau gets dozens of phone calls every week from consumers who have received phone calls, emails or texts that do not seem quite right.
Maybe it's a call about your time share when you do not own one, a call threatening dire consequences because of money you allegedly owe to the IRS, a call from someone claiming to be a relative in distress, or someone who says they have detected a problem with your computer. All are common ploys by scammers who want to take your money and run.
BBB Scam Tracker is a great way to check out what scams are hot, discover whether an offer is bogus or to report scams so others can avoid them as well. Nearly 40,000 scams have been reported to Scam Tracker nationwide, and more than 2,000 of them were reported in our region.
For information on how to protect yourself from common scams, go to bbb.org/protectyourself or follow these 10 tips to help you avoid fraud.
1. Spot imposters. Scammers often pretend to be someone you trust, like a government official, a family member, a charity or a company you do business with. Do not send money or give out personal information in response to an unexpected request - whether it comes as a text, a phone call or an email.
2. Do online searches. Type a company or product name into your favorite search engine with words like "review," "complaint" or "scam." Or search for a phrase that describes your situation, like "IRS call." You also can search phone numbers to see if other people have reported them as scams.
3. Do not believe your caller ID. Technology makes it easy for scammers to fake caller ID information, so the name and number you see aren't always real.
4. Do not pay upfront for a promise. Someone might ask you to pay in advance for things like debt relief, credit and loan offers, mortgage assistance or to get a sweepstakes or lottery prize. If you pay, the scammer will probably take the money and disappear.
5. Consider how you pay. Credit cards have significant fraud protection built in, but that is not the case with wiring money through services like Western Union or MoneyGram, using reloadable cards like MoneyPark, Reloadit or Vanilla, or gift cards like those from iTunes or eBay. These payments are extremely difficult to trace.
6. Talk to someone you trust. Before you pay or give out personal information, talk to a friend or call BBB. Con artists want you to make decisions in a hurry.
7. Hang up on robocalls. If you answer the phone and hear a recorded sales pitch, hang up and report it to BBB and Federal Trade Commission. These calls are illegal, and often the products are bogus. Do not press 1 to speak to a person or to be taken off the list. That could lead to more calls.
8. Be skeptical about free trial offers. Some companies use free trials to sign you up for products and bill you every month until you cancel. Before you agree to a free trial, research the company and read the cancellation policy. And always review your monthly statements for charges you don't recognize.
9. Do not deposit a check and wire money back. By law, banks must make funds from deposited checks available within days, but uncovering a fake check can take weeks. If a check you deposit turns out to be a fake, you are responsible for repaying the bank.
10. Report the scam to BBB. File a report on BBB Scam Tracker, go to midmobbb.org or call 573-886-8965.
Sean Spence is the Mid-Missouri regional director for Better Business Bureau.