FRAUDS & SCAMS
One of the most common forms of fraud is a solicitation through the mail involving a claim of winnings through a lottery or sweepstakes.
Most often this originates in a foreign country such as Africa, England or Canada. The alleged Lottery or Sweepstakes company sends a
check to the "winner" purportedly to cover taxes, legal fees, insurance, or processing fees. If you didn't enter, it will probably be a fraud.
You should be extremely leery of any unsolicited contact that requires you to send a Western Union money transfer. Once money is sent through Western Union in a fraud sceme, it is not recoverable.
Federal, State, and Local government's do not solicit personal information by e-mail. In other words, if you get an e-mail purportedly from the government, asking for your social security number, it is a fraud and do not sent your social security number by e-mail.
That does not mean that legitimate government websites do not need your personal information. An example of this would be FASFA, where you are attempting to get a college loan guarantee through a legitimate government website. But in this example you are filling out forms on a government website, not being asked your social security number through e-mail.
Other common forms of fraud include identify theft, credit card number theft, and purchases made where the product is not received. Please check out the links on the right side for more detailed information on frauds and scams.
You should be extremely leery of any unsolicited contact that requires you to send a Western Union money transfer. Once money is sent through Western Union in a fraud sceme, it is not recoverable.
Federal, State, and Local government's do not solicit personal information by e-mail. In other words, if you get an e-mail purportedly from the government, asking for your social security number, it is a fraud and do not sent your social security number by e-mail.
That does not mean that legitimate government websites do not need your personal information. An example of this would be FASFA, where you are attempting to get a college loan guarantee through a legitimate government website. But in this example you are filling out forms on a government website, not being asked your social security number through e-mail.
Other common forms of fraud include identify theft, credit card number theft, and purchases made where the product is not received. Please check out the links on the right side for more detailed information on frauds and scams.