There are several signs that indicate you might be dealing with a scammer, and several steps you can take to protect yourself and others.
Criminals and con artists use many scams to target unsuspecting people—of all ages—who have access to money. Consumer scams happen on the phone, through the mail, e-mail, or over the internet. They can occur in person, at home, or at a business.
Warning signs include contact from someone:
- Claiming to be from the government, a bank, a business, or a family member, and asking you to pay money.
- Asking you to pay money or taxes upfront to receive a prize or a gift.
- Asking you to wire them money, send cryptocurrency, send money by courier, send money over a payment app, or put money on a prepaid card or gift card and send it to them or give them the numbers on the card.
- Asking for access to your money-such as your ATM cards, bank accounts, credit cards, cryptocurrency wallet keys or access codes, or investment accounts.
- Pressuring you to “act now” or else the deal will go away, or trying hard to give you a “great deal” without time to answer your questions.
- Creating a sense of urgency or emergency to play on your emotions.