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 24 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.”