Report Scams

If you think you may have been scammed: • File a complaint with the Scam artists in the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov. If you are outside the U.S. and around U.S., file a complaint at the world defraud 10 millions of people each year. They use Ways • Visit ftc.gov/idtheft, where the phone, email, you’ll find out how to minimize postal mail, and the your risk of identity theft. internet to trick you • Report scams to your state to into sending money Attorney General. Visit naag.org. or giving out personal information. • If you get unsolicited email Avoid offers or spam, send the Here are 10 things you messages to [email protected]. can do — or not — to • If you get what looks like lottery Fraud material from a foreign country stop a scam. through the postal mail, take it to your local postmaster.

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION August 2012 Know who you’re dealing with. Try to find the money to finance illegal activity. For more Don’t agree to deposit a check and 1 a seller’s physical address (not a P.O. Box) donating tips, check out consumer.ftc.gov. 8 wire money back. By law, banks have to and phone number. With internet phone services Talk to your doctor before you buy make funds from deposited checks available and other web-based technologies, it’s tough to 5 health products or treatments. Ask within days, but uncovering a fake check can tell where someone is calling from. Do an online about research that supports a product’s claims take weeks. You’re responsible for the checks search for the company name and website, — and possible risks or side effects. In addition, you deposit: If a check turns out to be a fake, and look for reviews. If people report negative buy prescription drugs only from licensed U.S. you’re responsible for paying back the bank. No experiences, you’ll have to decide if the offer is pharmacies. Otherwise, you could end up with matter how convincing the story, someone who worth the risk. After all, a deal is good only if you products that are fake, expired, or mislabeled overpays with a check is almost certainly a scam get a product that actually works as promised. — in short, products that could be dangerous artist. Know that wiring money is like sending to your health. Learn more about buying health Don’t reply to 2 cash. Con artists often insist that people products online at consumer.ftc.gov. 9 messages asking wire money, especially overseas, because it’s Remember there’s no sure thing in for personal or financial nearly impossible to reverse the transaction 6 investing. If someone contacts you with information. It doesn’t or trace the money. Don’t wire money to low-risk, high-return investment opportunities, matter whether the message strangers, to sellers who insist on wire transfers stay away. When you hear pitches that insist you comes as an email, a phone call, a text for payment, or to anyone who claims to be a act now, that guarantee big profits, that promise message, or an ad. Don’t click on links or call relative or friend in an emergency and wants to little or no financial risk, or that demand that you phone numbers included in the message, either. keep the request a secret. send cash immediately, report them at ftc.gov. It’s called phishing. The crooks behind these Read your monthly statements. messages are trying to trick you into revealing Don’t send money to someone you Scammers steal account information and sensitive information. If you got a message like 3 don’t know. Not to an online seller you’ve then run up charges or commit crimes in your 7 this and you are concerned about your account never heard of — or an online love interest name. Dishonest merchants bill you for monthly status, call the number on your credit or debit who asks for money. It’s best to do business “membership fees” and other goods or services card — or your statement — and check on it. with sites you know and trust. If you buy items without your authorization. If you see charges through an online auction, consider using a Don’t play a foreign lottery. It’s you don’t recognize or didn’t okay, contact your payment option that provides protection, like a 10 illegal to play a foreign lottery. And yet bank, card issuer, or other creditor immediately. credit card. messages that tout your chances of winning a After a disaster, give only to foreign lottery, or messages that claim you’ve If you think you’ve found a good deal, but you established charities. In the aftermath already won, can be tempting. Inevitably, you 4 aren’t familiar with the company, check it out. of a disaster, give to an established charity, have to pay “taxes,” “fees,” or “customs duties” Type the company or product name into your rather than one that has sprung to collect your prize. If you must send money favorite search engine with terms like “review,” up overnight. Pop-up charities to collect, you haven’t won anything. And if you “complaint,” or “scam.” See what comes up probably don’t have the send any money, you — on the first page of results as well as on the infrastructure to get help to will lose it. You won’t get later pages. Never pay fees first for the promise the affected areas or people, any money back, either, of a big pay-off later — whether it’s for a loan, a and they could be collecting regardless of promises or job, a grant or a so-called prize. guarantees.