If today is your birthday and you’re on Facebook, you are likely getting many messages congratulating you on your big day.
But well-wishers aren’t the only people taking note of your birthday. So are scammers.
Your date of birth is an important element of identification, along with things such as your Social Security number, your ZIP code, the city or town where you were born and your mother’s maiden name. Yet millions of people publicize it online via Facebook without thinking twice. Not a good idea.
“Watch what you put on social media,” said Joseph Remy, supervisor of the Financial Crimes Unit at the Burlington County Prosecutor’s office.
That was just one of the many tips to avoid being scammed that experts such as Remy, Liz Buser of the AARP’s Fraud Watch Network, and Ocean County Assistant Prosecutor Taylor Toscano handed out at a telephone town hall held by Congressman Andy Kim last Thursday.
“The last thing New Jersey families, seniors and small businesses should be worried about are scams that endanger private and sensitive information,” said Kim. “I hope the information provided by our guest experts will help people across Burlington Country and Ocean County avoid scams and encourage people who have had their identity or sensitive information stolen to reach out to our office so we can help.”
Scammers are always looking for new ways to separate you from your money.
The COVID-19 pandemic produced a new fraud, according to Buser. When vaccines were first available to the general public last winter, and people were scrambling to get a shot, scammers would make calls or send out emails promising to get you to the front of the line – after you paid for the privilege. Bye bye, money. And a new wave of such calls can be expected if booster shots are approved and recommended by the FDA and CDC.
Meanwhile, slowdowns at the post office have created a backlog of passport applications at the State Department.
“Mail delays are impacting when we receive passport applications for processing,” reads a warning on the State Department website. “Our processing times begin the day we receive your application, not the day you mail it. Routine service can take up to 18 weeks from the day an application is submitted to the day a new passport is received. The 18-week time frame includes up to 12 weeks for processing, and five to six weeks for mailing times on the front and back end.”
The State Department has programs for expedited passports, although they do charge fees. But of course scam artists stepped up to the plate to “help” people planning to get an expedited passport. For a fee, of course, that would never reach the State Department.
Add those new ripoffs to classic long-running scams and the list is a long one indeed.
A major trick of the scammer trade is to get you frightened. Obviously getting a call saying your power will be cut off because you allegedly missed payments, or that you are going to lose your Social Security number, can scare the hell out of a recipient, especially senior citizens. The pandemic only added to folks’ fear, making them especially edgy and vulnerable.
And being taken by a scammer is hugely embarrassing, meaning victims are often reluctant to report scammers.
No doubt about it, scam artists can roll with the times. How can they be so quick?
“It is not a guy in a basement,” said Buser of those phoning or emailing potential victims. “It is a sophisticated international organization.”
Senior Citizens
Are Targeted
Ocean County has a huge number of senior citizens. So it wasn’t surprising that Toscano zoomed in on frauds that especially focus on seniors.
There’s the “Grandma/Grandpa” scheme. You get a phone call, supposedly from a law enforcement officer or a court. Your grandson or granddaughter has been arrested and needs to be bailed out. Wire money or buy gift cards and give the caller their numbers immediately.
Buser said the requirement to pay alleged debts with gift cards is a huge red flag. They are readily available, so much so that scammers will often give a victim a list of nearby stores where they may be purchased. And they have the added advantage for scammers in that they are easily convertible to cash or bitcoin.
“Anyone asking for gift cards should tip you off it is a scam,” said Toscano, doubling down on Buser’s warning. Toscano also said you should immediately hang up and call the family member who is supposedly jailed to find out if they have truly been jailed. There’s another reason, he said, to hang up on scammers as quickly as possible. Even if you don’t eventually fall for the ripoff, the scammer will try to ring out as much personal information as possible while keeping you on the phone. Remember, these guys are pros.
Then there’s the lottery scam. You get a call telling you that you’ve won a lottery but have to pay taxes on the winnings before you can collect, using, you guessed it, gift cards.
“First thing,” said Toscano, “did you actually play the lottery?”
A 91-year-old man got a call saying he had won a $750,000 lottery sponsored by Bank of America about a month before last Christmas. But he would have to pay about $4,000 in taxes, with gift cards of course, to receive his bounty. When he finally got over his embarrassment, he admitted he had emptied his bank account, and even overdrafted it, to pay those “taxes.” Did he have an account with Bank of America? He didn’t.
How can such a tip-off possibly not be noticed? Well, the prospect of buying his children new cars for Christmas got him excited. Instead, they got metaphorical coal in their stockings.
“We’ve had victims call and say they lost tens of thousands of dollars,” said Toscano, “but our investigation is usually a dead end. Never give out personal information on the phone or internet and never wire money or gift cards!”
Children can protect elderly parents from scammers by arranging with their banks to get a call whenever mom or dad try to withdraw a large amount of money from their accounts. They can then contact their parent(s) to find out what the withdraw is for and, hopefully, slam the door shut on the scammer.
Don’t Help
Out Thieves
People make it easy for scammers, and even common thieves. The best example of that is the number of high-end cars that have been stolen in Southern Ocean County this summer. Drivers simply don’t lock their cars.
One woman called in during Kim’s town hall saying she had purchased a new home security system. But, she said, it had been hacked and her house had been broken into many times.
“I’m scared of leaving my home,” said the woman.
She wasn’t personally accused of being lazy or told that maybe she hadn’t been hacked, but one of the experts said many home security systems purchased at stores have default passwords installed. Some of those passwords are incredibly simple, such as PASSWORD. If you don’t create your own, you are asking for trouble.
It is clear that people have to be much more careful about revealing personal information online. But what else can they do to protect themselves?
First of all, educate yourself about scams, new and old. The AARP’s Fraud Watch Network is an excellent place to start. And a full recording of Kim’s telephone town hall is available on his website, kim.house.gov. Just click on Menu, then Media Center, then Press Releases. Go to the press release related to Kim’s town hall, and scroll down to gain access to the recording.
Number two, get over your embarrassment and report being scammed as quickly as possible. You can call your local police department, your county prosecutor’s office, the AARP Fraud Watch Network at 1-877-908-3360 or the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-382-4357. As the experts participating in the town hall made clear, catching scammers is extremely difficult. But reporting scams as least gives law enforcement a running start, especially with new types of fraud. And they can notify the public about the new scams.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, learn to hang up immediately on scammers. If you do indeed have a legitimate problem with your power company, bank, the Social Security Administration or the IRS, don’t worry, they’ll reach you by mail, not by phone calls or emails. As for lottery scams, remember, as Remy said, “If if sounds too good to be true,” you’re likely dealing with a scammer.
— Rick Mellerup
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