Denton County Living Well Magazine September/October 2017 | Page 26

BEWARE …
You May
Be a Target.
S
By Glen McKenzie
adly, hundreds of crooks are working diligently to
steal your hard-earned money. Following are just
a few of the common schemes but beware, there
are many.
Debt Collection Scams:
Fraudsters are impersonating debt collectors or even law
enforcement officers attempting to collect a debt that you
do not owe. If someone contacts you, ask for proof of the
debt––scammers won’t have it. If you are threatened with
arrest for non-payment, it’s a scam.
“Phishing” emails:
Watch for any email that pretends to be from your credit
union, bank, or large retailers. In a “phishing” scam, these
email addresses will link to a fake website that is an “exact
copy / mirror image” of the real website, but the web ad-
dress will be slightly different. The fraudsters are attempting
to trick you into entering your personal information so they
can steal your identity. Look carefully at the email addresses
as there is usually a slight variation from the real website.
If they are using a generic greeting (dear jdoe) or a threat
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DENTON COUNTY Living Well Magazine | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017
(your account will be deactivated today)––Beware. Never
provide private information like account numbers, social
security numbers, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers,
etc., to anyone.
Charity Scams:
Scammers are masterful at appealing to our desire to help
the less fortunate. You’ll get a call announcing that you’ve
won thousands of dollars in a charity sweepstakes. Claim-
ing to represent a “government official” (like the FTC),
you’ll be told as “the winner” to pay thousands of dollars
for taxes and insurance to claim your winnings. You should
NEVER have to pay money to win a prize and a legitimate
organization will never ask for money to be paid over the
phone.
Job Offers that are Fraudulent:
People with nefarious intentions pose in classified or online
job ads as employers that offer opportunities. Perhaps, it’s
working from home. The kicker is that you are required to
pay money beforehand to “help secure the job.” They may
also request a significant amount of personal information
for the “background check.”