Fraud

Scammers are taking advantage of the fear of COVID-19. Here are a few scams to watch out for.

If you plan on calling in professionals to help you with your spring cleaning tasks, you may be targeted by one of the many scams that are rampant this time of year. Below, we’ve listed four of the most prevalent scams to watch out for this season. Stay safe!

Scammers have recognized an opportunity to rob innocent victims of their money while giving them false hope for defeating the virus. The FBI is warning of a surge in COVID-19 cure scams in which criminals peddle an alleged vaccine or treatment for coronavirus.

It’s something everyone does: When you date a document, you just put the last two digits of the year on it. But doing that in 2020 can leave you open to a scam!

No one can totally eliminate the risk of identity theft, but there are things you can do to reduce risk. Think of your Social Security Number (SSN), financial account numbers, and passwords as the Holy Grail—sacred and powerful. Protect them carefully.

If you have an iPhone, iPad or a Macbook, you need to know about this recent, hard-to-spot scam. Hackers are impersonating Apple support in an effort to scrape sensitive information from Apple users’ devices. These scams can be difficult to identify and are often successful.

Riiiing! You race for the phone, but the caller has already hung up—after just one ring. How rude! You thumb through the Caller ID, poised to give your mysterious caller a ring back when you note the strange area code. Should you, or shouldn’t you, make this call?

The FTC is warning of a surge in tech support scams, many of which can be difficult to spot.

Each year, the IRS publishes the “Dirty Dozen,” a list of 12 scams that are rampant during that year’s tax season. This year, the IRS is cautioning taxpayers to be extra vigilant because of a 60% increase in email phishing scams over the past year.

Keep your money safe by reading up on the most common scams taking place this time of year and practicing caution.