3 New Scams to Avoid

Scam artists love to follow the headlines, and this year’s economic turmoil brought out some of the worst of them. These crooks seized the opportunity to offer their own forms of “help.” But instead of getting you out of financial trouble, they take your money and run. Here’s how to avoid three new financial scams.

Housing rescue scams. Scam artists prey upon people’s worries about losing their homes, and you might be intrigued by a compelling ad or a convincing phone call offering to help you get out of mortgage trouble. Sometimes they even search through the government’s public foreclosure documents and send personalized letters offering to help save your home. The scam artists may offer to negotiate with your lender—then run off with your money instead.

In some of the worst cases, they may deceive you by claiming the documents you’re signing are to restructure the terms of your existing mortgage, but instead you unwittingly transfer the title of your house to the scam artists. Also beware of companies or individuals that charge a fee to enroll you in a government program to help you with your mortgage. You can do that yourself for free. Some scam artists may be out to steal your money; others are looking to gather important information to steal your identity. If you are having trouble paying your mortgage, see if you qualify for one of the government programs at www.makinghomeaffordable.gov or get help at www.995hope.org or by calling 888-995-HOPE.

Stimulus scams. As soon as the stimulus bill was passed in February, crooks started to roll out stimulus-related scams. In one, an ad says that you can order a CD or access a special Web site that will show you how to get a $12,000 government grant from the stimulus—if you make a small credit-card payment. Of course, the government is not sending $12,000 checks to individuals, and the fine print shows that you’re actually signing up for recurring credit-card charges that can be tough to stop. The Better Business Bureau found that people who signed up were charged as much as $69.95 every month on their credit or debit cards.

Tax refund scams. Many people have been receiving e-mails with messages claiming to be from the IRS, warning that if you don’t respond promptly (often with your bank-account information), you’ll forfeit your tax refund or stimulus money. The IRS does not contact taxpayers by e-mail and never asks for PINs, passwords, or secret access information for credit cards or bank accounts. Just opening an attachment in one of these e-mails could infect your computer with a virus or malicious software. And if you click on a link in the message, you could be directed to a phishing Web site-designed to look like one from the government or a well-known bank—created to collect personal information. You can check the status of your refund at www.irs.gov, and always type the Web address yourself rather than clicking a link on one of these suspicious letters.

Avoid and report these scams. If you receive any of these e-mails, you can file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Federal Trade Commission. For warnings about e-mail hoaxes and phishing scams, see the FBI’s Cyber Investigations Web site.