Millions of people lose countless dollars each year to scams. Learn how to spot and avoid being victimized by scammers. The Federal Trade Commision offers some great information regarding scams and updates their website regularly with current and common scams. Click here to find out more information about scams from the FTC.

Report a Scam

Jury Scam

The so-called “jury duty scam” continuously makes its rounds in Brunswick County. Our senior citizens are often targeted and particularly vulnerable to this scam, but anyone can be duped by the clever perpetrators. Members of the public have reported being scammed out of thousands of dollars. In reality, per North Carolina statute the penalty for disobeying a jury summons is currently $50.00 for each time a juror fails to appear.

How the Scam Works
The scam has evolved over the years, but the premise is usually the same. The caller will:
– Claim to be a judge or member of the court, local police, the Sheriff’s Office or a federal agency
– Often use the name of a real judge or deputy obtained from a public source, and may even use a fake Caller ID of that office
– Often use details about you obtained from a public source
– Claim you have failed to appear for jury service or jury duty
– Claim you are in contempt of court or that a local or federal warrant has been issued for your arrest
– Claim that to avoid arrest and jail, you can pay a fine or bond typically requested in the form of a pre-paid debit or gift card, which makes it impossible to retrieve your money and difficult to track down the scammer
– Ask you to meet them at your local courthouse, police department, sheriff’s office, or some other location
– Convince you to stay on the phone with them while you purchase pre-paid debit and / or gift cards and read the numbers back to them to confirm the purchase
– Ask you to confirm your identity by soliciting personal information, including your name, birth date, Social Security number, credit card number, and other personal or financial information
How to Protect Yourself:
– If you receive such a call, HANG UP without providing any information about yourself or taking any action. Trust your instincts. If the call does not feel right, hang up and do not engage the caller. – You may be pressured into staying on the phone to purchase a money order, pre-paid debit card, or gift card, but you should resist and hang up. If asked to do so, please do not leave your home or place of work to meet the caller at any location, including your local courthouse or sheriff’s office.
Report any suspicious calls (or emails) to the Sheriff’s Office. Victims may also report it to the N.C. Attorney General’s Office or call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM.
You can confirm if you have been selected for jury service or failed to appear by contacting the clerk of superior court office in your county.
Things to Remember:
– In North Carolina, official jury summonses, as well as failure to appear notices, are always delivered to your home or post office box by first class mail.
– Court officials and law enforcement officers never make phone calls to threaten arrest or warn you of an impending arrest for failing to appear for jury service or any other infraction.
– These scam phone calls often occur in the evening, after courthouses have closed and employees have gone home for the night, which should be a red flag.
– Scammers obtain targets’ names, phone numbers, or addresses from phone directories or other public records and often call after working hours because they know they have a better chance of reaching their intended victims.
– Caller ID can be manipulated to appear as a local number or display the name and phone number of any agency or business, so don’t be fooled.
– Scammers often ask for payments of hundreds or thousands of dollars. The actual penalty for disobeying a jury summons is currently $50.00 for each time a juror fails to appear.
If you have concerns, hang up and look up the courthouse phone number yourself (do not rely on any phone numbers provided by the caller) to verify with the jury coordinator or clerk of superior court’s office if you have, in fact, been summonsed for jury service or failed to appear.
A video with further information can be found by CLICKING HERE.

 Reward for Completing a Survey from Ace Hardware Scam

“These phishing emails claim they will send a free gift in exchange for completing a survey. Once the survey is completed, you will be asked to provide payment information for shipping and handling. Upon doing so, your payment information will be compromised by the fraud subjects. Ace Hardware will never ask customers for payment information as part of any survey or promotion.

If you receive a phishing survey email report it to fraud@acehardware.com and delete the email. Please be sure to include the phishing email as an attachment when reporting fraud.”

More information on this scam can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Real Estate Scams – For Sale by NOT the Owner

FSBNO – For sale by NOT the owner

Example from the NC Real Estate Commission: A neighbor was driving by a parcel of land adjacent to their own and noticed a For Sale By Owner sign but did not recognize the phone number on the sign. Suspicious, the neighbor, who knew the property owner, called the owner with the phone number the neighbor already had and asked if they were selling. The owner said ‘No’ and called the police to take down the sign and investigate.

For more information about Real Estate Scams CLICK HERE

UPS Scams

The UPS website says fraudsters claiming to be from UPS may use the telephone, text messages, a fax machine, letters, or other communication methods in an attempt to gather your personal information. These fraudulent communications are the unauthorized actions of third parties not associated with UPS. Fraudulent communications claiming to be from UPS may claim to indicate a package is waiting to be delivered. These communications will generally ask you for personal information and/or a payment in advance of receiving a package, or may indicate a need to update your account by obtaining personal information or a copy of your UPS invoice.

For more information about UPS scams CLICK HERE

Grandparent Scam

According to aarp.org, grandparent scams typically work something like this: The victim gets a call from someone posing as his or her grandchild. This person explains, in a frantic-sounding voice, that he or she is in trouble: There’s been an accident, or an arrest, or a robbery. To up the drama and urgency, the caller might claim to be hospitalized or stuck in a foreign country; to make the impersonation more convincing, he or she will throw in a few family particulars, gleaned from the actual grandchild’s social media activity.

The impostor offers just enough detail about where and how the emergency happened to make it seem plausible and perhaps turns the phone over to another scammer who pretends to be a doctor, police officer or lawyer and backs up the story. The “grandchild” implores the target to wire money immediately, adding an anxious plea: “Don’t tell Mom and Dad!”

For more information about the Grandparent scam including warning signs and tips for avoiding being scammed, visit the AARP website by clicking here.

Social Security Scams

The FTC is getting reports about people pretending to be from the Social Security Administration (SSA) who are trying to get your Social Security number and even your money. According to the FTC website, in one version of the scam, the caller says your Social Security number has been linked to a crime (often, he says it happened in Texas) involving drugs or sending money out of the country illegally. He then says your Social is blocked – but he might ask you for a fee to reactivate it, or to get a new number. And he will ask you to confirm your Social Security number.

In other variations, he says that somebody used your Social Security number to apply for credit cards, and you could lose your benefits. Or he might warn you that your bank account is about to be seized, that you need to withdraw your money, and that he’ll tell you how to keep it safe.

For more information about social security scam including things you need to know in the event you receive a call and how to report it, click here.

Phone Scams

According to the FTC, people lose a lot of money to phone scams — sometimes their life savings. Scammers have figured out countless ways to cheat you out of your money over the phone. In some scams, they act friendly and helpful. In others, they might threaten or try to scare you.

One thing you can count on is that a phone scammer will try to get your money or your personal information to commit identity theft.  Phone scams come in many forms, but they tend to make similar promises and threats, or ask you to pay certain ways.

More information from the FTC regarding phone scams can be found by clicking here.

Phishing Scams

Scammers use email or text messages to trick you into giving them your personal information, according to the FTC. They may try to steal your passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers. If they get that information, they could gain access to your email, bank, or other accounts. Scammers launch thousands of phishing attacks like these every day — and they’re often successful.

To find out how to recognize and protect yourself from phishing scams, click here.

Fake Check Scam

In a fake check scam, a person you don’t know asks you to deposit a check— sometimes for several thousand dollars, and usually for more than you are owed — and send some of the money to another person. The scammers always have a good story to explain why you can’t keep all the money. They might say they need you to cover taxes or fees, you’ll need to buy supplies, or something else.

Fake checks come in many forms. They might look like business or personal checks, cashier’s checks, money orders, or a check delivered electronically. Click here to find out what you need to know about fake check scams.

Prize Scams

The Division of Consumer and Business Education of the FTC says plenty of contests are run by reputable marketers and non-profits. But every day, people lose thousands of dollars to prize scams.  Prize and lottery scams can start many ways, but they often begin with an unexpected phone call. The scammers may claim to be from the government or an official-sounding organization. They make wild claims about big winnings, and demand payment up front. If you get a call like this, hang up.

For tips on how to avoid being a victim of prize scams, visit the FTC website by clicking here.

Government Imposter Scams

Government imposter scams are very common. Government agencies like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or the Social Security Administration (SSA) won’t call, text, or email you out of the blue to demand payment right away. Some scammers even claim to be with the Sheriff’s Office or a court official saying you owe money and you’ll go to jail if you don’t pay immediately.  Similar scams include someone claiming you’ve misssed jury duty and will be arrested if you don’t pay or provide certain personal information.

More information on how to spot government scams can be found on the FTC website by clicking here.

 

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