No one is immune from falling for a scam.  They can happen to any one of any age and at any stage in their life.  To help protect you from becoming a victim of a scam there are some things that you need to remember.  The best thing that you can do is remember that if sounds too good to be true it probably is and it is most likely a scam.

Protect Yourself

There are two ways that you can protect yourself from becoming a victim of a scam.  One of the most important things that you can do is making sure that you read the fine print not only at the bottom of the paper but anywhere that there appears to be small fine print.  In addition to the small print you should read the contract or agreement entirely before you sign it.  Scammers may use small print, sophisticated language, or asterisks to either confuse or hide the true meaning of what you are signing your name to.

You should also make sure that you guard all your personal information.  Make sure that you verify their identity if anyone asks for your personal information.  Make sure that you ask for their name, the name of their organization, the address, and the phone number.  You need to make sure that you verify this information through an outside source such as the telephone directory or their website.
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This type of scam can take on my variations.  It could be someone is offering to pay you for a service or to buy an item that you advertised for sale.  There may even be an offer that promises an “advance” on some sweepstakes that you have supposed to have won, or to pay for the first installment on the millions of dollars you are going to receive for agreeing to have money from a foreign country transferred into your bank account for safekeeping.

In most instances of fake check scams the one doing the scam will request that you to send money back to them in some way.  What they will do is send you a check for goods or services for more than the amount that is requested.  They will tell you to go ahead and deposit their check and then you are to wire them back the additional money.

In some instances, the scammer will ask you to wire them money for processing, legal fees, taxes, shipping, or any number of other expenses that you are going to have to pay before you will receive your reward or money.  The checks that the scammers will send you will feel and look real no matter if they are a cashier’s check or a personal check.  These checks have even been known to fool a bank teller.  These checks could have been written fraudulently or may be from a legitimate corporation or business.

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This type of scam is when someone calls you claiming that they are from your credit card company and asks you to confirm personal information.  This could be anything from your credit card number, the security code from the back of the card, or even your mother’s name.  If you give the caller any of this information after the call is over the caller will take the information and start making charges on your account.  This identity theft may even create a new account in your name.  Sometime these identity thieves or scammers will even leave a number on your answering machine or in an email to get you to call them.

If you should get a phone call of this type make sure that you do not give out any information even if they sound legitimate for the simple reason is that you did not initiate the call.  Some of these scammers are so smart that they can even have your credit card company’s number show up on the caller ID by spoofing your caller ID.  Only trust calls that you make by using the number on the billing statement or on the back of your credit card.  If you get any numbers in an email or left on your answering machine that you do not know do not call them back and give them any personal information.

Call your credit card company immediately if you mistakenly give out your personal information.  The credit card company may give you a new credit card number or even a new credit card and deactivate the old one to prevent fraudulent charges from being made on your account.
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There is a new identity theft scam where the identity thief only puts one dollar on your credit card.  In this newest scam, identity thieves purchase hundreds of credit card numbers that have been stolen and then they put a one-dollar charge on each of them, which does not sound like much of a scam.  The next step though is what can earn the identity thieves some big money.

If you are one of the unlucky cardholder that ends up with just a dollar charge but does not notice it, the next month the thieves will bill your credit card with thousands of dollars in merchandise.  The reason that this scam works is that it reveals who does not read their credit card statement carefully and notices that initial one-dollar charge.  Once the thieves know they will target these customers because the ones that are not aware of the one-dollar charge that should not be there in the first place and does not report it, they are taking the chance of being hit with thousands of dollars of charges that they never approved.

In order to not become a victim of this latest one-dollar credit card scam, make sure that you check your credit card statement each month carefully.  If you find any charges that are questionable, make sure that you call your credit card company immediately to report the unauthorized charge.

As mentioned in Car Scams Part 1, cars are big ticketed items and there are many ways, or scams, in which these fraudsters will try to bilk innocent buyers out of their hard earned money, many times either not getting the car or getting a lemon in the deal or worst scenario, identity theft.  Here are the rest of the car scams

• Location Scam—this scam happens when a potential buyer sees an ad for a car that is for sale locally.  When the contact is made the fraudster tells the potential buyer that the car in the ad is located somewhere other than where it was advertised but it can be shipped anywhere for a fee.  The victim pays the fraudster the fee and the potential buyer is not only out the fee but never receives the car either.
• Sight Unseen Scam—in this scam the fraudulent sellers will make up a story about why they are not able to show the car physically due to some unforeseen circumstances such as they are away on military duty, or they are traveling for work.  The sell will ask for the full payment and tells the potential buyer that the title will be sent when the car is shipped.  Piece of advice is to never buy a car sight unseen or send money before you see the car.  You should have a licensed mechanic check the car over to check for any damage because it could be a car that was in a flood. Read the rest of this entry »