Tip Tuesday – How to Protect Yourself from Scams

The calls, texts, and phishing emails from bogus people trying to lure you into scams can feel endless! The FTC reports that the median loss from a successful phone scam in 2020 was $1,170, nearly FOUR times the median loss across all fraud types! So what can you do to protect yourself?

1 – Register with the Do Not Call Registry. This will prevent legitimate telemarketers from calling you so chances are the unknown calls that DO come through are from scammers, and you’ll know not to pick up.

2 – Register with a free service like NoMoRoBo to help prevent the scammers’ calls from getting through.

3 – If you receive ANY calls or emails from the IRS that are suspicious, DO NOT CLICK on them! Instead, forward them to phishing@irs.gov.

4 – If you have received suspicious emails claiming to be from your bank, Apple, Amazon, or anyone else the FBI also wants to know about it at the Internet Crime Complaint Center. Your report will help them catch criminals and protect others.

5 – And The FTC wants to hear from YOU about ANY kind of fraud! Fraudulent calls, emails, texts, businesses, and identity theft are all things they will help with.

6 – Finally, make the effort NOW to check all three of your credit reports at Annual Credit Report. It is FREE to check every week up until April 20, 2022. More information on how to protect yourself is here. And take advantage of putting a free FREEZE on your accounts so they cannot be easily compromised.

Your homework: take 10 minutes today to check your credit reports, and when you get these suspicious scam attempts, take a few minutes to report them to the authorities above. Can you share any scams that you have been exposed to? Share your observations in my FB Group to help protect us all!