Consumer fraud prevention and awareness

Filing your taxes as soon as possible is the best way to protect yourself before criminals can gain access to personally identifiable information (PII), such as a Social Security number, bank account information, etc. and use it to file false tax returns to receive the refunds. Thousands of people have lost millions of dollars and PII to tax scams. These scams can be encountered anytime, but many peak during tax filing season. The IRS issues a list of frequently seen tax scams each year.  Remember that the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text message or social media channels to request personal or financial information. Most communication is handled through regular mail delivered by the United States Postal Service.  Review additional information from the IRS.

Some cybercriminals call and claim to be computer techs associated with well-known companies like Microsoft or Apple. Others send pop-up messages that display tech support alerts, asking you to call a support number to fix your device. They say they’ve detected viruses or other malware on your computer, diagnose a non-existent problem, and ask you to pay for unnecessary services. If you get an unexpected pop-up, phone call, email or other urgent message about problems with your computer, don’t click on any links, don’t give a stranger control of your computer, and don’t send any money. Microsoft or Apple will never reach out to you to provide unsolicited PC or technical support.

Be alert for "too good to be true" notifications of prize or lottery winnings. These can arrive through the mail, by email, or by an unsolicited telephone call, telling you that you have won a prize (often for a competition you didn't enter). Victims of lottery scams have lost thousands of dollars responding to demands for payment to cover costs of redeeming prizes that never existed in the first place.

Modern online romance scams are premeditated, organized crimes that result in financial losses for millions of victims. According to the FTC, $304 million in losses from romance scams were reported in 2020, a spike of 50% from the year before that reflects the growing prevalence of this fraud type. There are many variations of online dating scams but all tend to follow the same trajectory. The victim is identified, a close relationship is rapidly established online, often through a false persona; a small amount of money is asked for to test the victim's readiness; a crisis occurs and a larger amount of money is sought with the promise of it being returned quickly; additional series of money requests in larger amounts occur until the scammer is exposed or the victim can't get any more money.