Beware: summer is the time for scams
Summer is the season for good things like vacation, ice pops and cool dips in the pool.
But also summer is the season for scams.
The Union County prosecutor’s office sent out an alert last week warning the public to be wary of two scams that are making the rounds this summer.
The first is the “You’ve won the Lottery, but it will cost you,” scam and the other is the “Fraudulent credit card fraud alert.”
The lottery scam is done via letter or via computerized e-mail. The letter typically states that you are the winner of a large amount of money, but in order to collect the winnings, you have to pay administrative fees or international clearance fees.
Basically Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow points out that if you have to pay something for something you get nothing.
In describing “credit card fraud” the prosecutor pointed out that a victim gets a phone call from someone who identifies himself as a member of the security and fraudulent department of Visa or Master Card. The caller might even offer fake ID information like a badge number.
The caller tells the target that there has been some suspicious activity on his or her card and mentions the purchase. The target denies making the purchase and the caller, who has the target’s account number and address, promises to credit the account if the victim gives them the security code on the back of the credit card and also promises to begin a fraud investigation.
“Unless you are making a purchase that you initiated you should never give out your security code,” said Romankow.
The prosecutor’s office recommends that you tell the caller that you will call them back. The target should call the card company’s security number on the back. If the real security department is not aware of the fraud alert then it probably is not real.
These scams continue the most recent scams in the last decade on the Internet where some form of royalty in an African country wants to share his investment with you, but you need to pony up some dollars to get the investment going.
Unfortunately, today what looks real is not necessarily the truth.
The best suggestion is if a caller asks for important financial information like a security number, social security number, checking account information or wants money to get money, take down a phone number so that you can get back to them and investigate the company.
Initiate the action because in the end it will cost you money that you can not afford to lose.
If you have received a call, e-mail or a letter regarding what you think is fraud, contact the prosecutor’s office at 908-527-4500.
But also summer is the season for scams.
The Union County prosecutor’s office sent out an alert last week warning the public to be wary of two scams that are making the rounds this summer.
The first is the “You’ve won the Lottery, but it will cost you,” scam and the other is the “Fraudulent credit card fraud alert.”
The lottery scam is done via letter or via computerized e-mail. The letter typically states that you are the winner of a large amount of money, but in order to collect the winnings, you have to pay administrative fees or international clearance fees.
Basically Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow points out that if you have to pay something for something you get nothing.
In describing “credit card fraud” the prosecutor pointed out that a victim gets a phone call from someone who identifies himself as a member of the security and fraudulent department of Visa or Master Card. The caller might even offer fake ID information like a badge number.
The caller tells the target that there has been some suspicious activity on his or her card and mentions the purchase. The target denies making the purchase and the caller, who has the target’s account number and address, promises to credit the account if the victim gives them the security code on the back of the credit card and also promises to begin a fraud investigation.
“Unless you are making a purchase that you initiated you should never give out your security code,” said Romankow.
The prosecutor’s office recommends that you tell the caller that you will call them back. The target should call the card company’s security number on the back. If the real security department is not aware of the fraud alert then it probably is not real.
These scams continue the most recent scams in the last decade on the Internet where some form of royalty in an African country wants to share his investment with you, but you need to pony up some dollars to get the investment going.
Unfortunately, today what looks real is not necessarily the truth.
The best suggestion is if a caller asks for important financial information like a security number, social security number, checking account information or wants money to get money, take down a phone number so that you can get back to them and investigate the company.
Initiate the action because in the end it will cost you money that you can not afford to lose.
If you have received a call, e-mail or a letter regarding what you think is fraud, contact the prosecutor’s office at 908-527-4500.
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