FRAUD PREVENTION SDPD Crime Prevention October 6, 2017 CONTENTS TELEMARKETING AND OTHER PHONE FRAUD INTERNET FRAUD E-mail Scams Online Shopping Frauds OTHER SCAMS Additional Veterans Benefits Appeals for Help Auto Loan Modification Bankruptcy Foreclosure Rescue Cash-Back Scams Charity Scams Checks from Unknown Parties Check Washing Chimney Sweeps Counterfeit Checks Credit Card Fraud Credit Repair Debt Collection Debt Settlement Dishonest Tax Return Preparers and Related Tax Scams Door-to-Door Solicitors Door-to-Door Solicitations by Unscrupulous Contractors Door-to-Door Solicitations by Unscrupulous Contractors after a Disaster Door-to-Door Sales of Home Security Systems Duct Cleaning Earned Income Tax Credit Ecclesiastical Crime Empty Box Bargains Energy Saving Upgrades Fake Festivals Fake Insurance Tax Form Fraudulent Locksmiths Free Airline Tickets “Free” Trial Offers Gift Card Draining Government Grants Green Dot MoneyPak Cards Green Energy Conservation Health-care Credit Cards 1 Health Insurance Fraud High-Pressure Sales of Financial Products at Free-Meal Seminars High School Diploma HVAC Tune-ups Immigration Services Investment Opportunities IRS Impersonation Scams IRS PCA Impersonation IRS Visits Job Scams Land Investment Fraud Landlord Impersonation Mail Fraud Marijuana Stocks Medicare Enrollment Fraud Medicare and Medi-Cal Services Fraud Moving Scams Obamacare Pension Advances Post-Foreclosure Solicitations Predatory Insurance Sales Practices Predatory Scams Targeted against Military Personnel Prepaid Rental Listing Service Prize Notification and Lotteries Property Tax Relief Psychics Rental Housing Reverse Mortgages Short Sales of Homes Staged Crashes Surprise Gift Sweepstakes Sweetheart or Romance Scams and Online Dating Tax Debt Relief Tax Return and Refund Fraud Tech Support for Computers Third-Party Telephone Bill Charges Timeshare Transactions Travel Reservations Unclaimed Funds Unlicensed Payday Lenders Virtual Kidnapping Weight-Loss Products Wiring Mortgage Closing Costs This paper contains tips for preventing telemarketing and other phone fraud, Internet fraud, and other scams. If you live in San Diego and lose money in any of these scams, report it to the SDPD on its non- emergency number, (619) 531-2000 or (858) 484-3154. Otherwise report it to your local law enforcement agency. Links to additional tips on cybersecurity, identity theft prevention, and cybersecurity for businesses are on the prevention tips page of the SDPD website at ww.sandiego.gov/police/services/prevention/tips. 2 TELEMARKETING AND OTHER PHONE FRAUD Callers claiming to represent everyone from police officers to the disabled take advantage of the public’s sympathy and generosity to the tune of billions of dollars each year. They also offer miracle cures for everything from baldness to cancer, vacation time shares, sweepstakes prizes, chances to earn enormous profits from no-risk, high-yield business and investment opportunities, etc. You can be sure it’s a scam if they ask for money or personal information, especially if they use scare tactics. And you should be suspicious of all solicitors. Here are some examples of phone scam calls. You’ve won a prize or lottery and that you need to send money first or provide bank account information to get your winnings. You’ve won a gift card at a local store and have to come in a pick it up right away. When you leave your home it is burglarized. Call the store to verify the prize. And make sure your home is secure whenever you leave it. You have to act right away. Remember, if it’s a good deal today it will still be a good deal tomorrow. Don’t let anyone rush you into signing anything. He or she is calling on behalf of a charity that has a variation of an official or nationally-recognized name, e.g., Salvation League instead of Salvation Army. He or she is a law enforcement officer and threatens to arrest you if you don’t pay a fine for a bogus charge, e.g., a speeding violation caught on a camera or a failure to appear for jury duty. Payments are usually requested by prepaid debit card or money order. The scammer might also use the name of a real officer, use some of your personal information that can be obtained on the Internet, and make the department’s phone number appear on your Caller ID, all to make the call convincing. No law enforcement employee will ever contact you to demand money or any other form of payment. Hang up immediately if you get this kind of call. If you think you may have missed jury duty, you can call the Superior Court at (619) 450-5757 and press 0 to talk to a person. If you are threatened about an outstanding warrant you can go to www.sdsheriff.net/courts to see if there is one outstanding. You need to attend a sales meeting to take advantage of this limited offer. You need to dial a pay-per-call 900 number. You need to call a number in a strange area code, e.g., 876 which in Jamaica. In addition to soliciting money and personal information, these calls can be expensive with the cost being split between the phone company and the number owner. So the longer you talk, the more money the number owner gets. So never call back a number with an area code you don’t recognize. You can get area-code locations online, e.g., at www.areacodelocations.info/areacodelist.html. He or she is calling from the security or fraud department of your credit- or debit-card company and asks you for the 3-digit security number on the back of your credit card to verify your possession of the card to aid it in a fraud investigation. Medicare now requires a National ID Card and offers to provide one for a fee. Or the caller says a card is being mailed but he needs your bank information. Call the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP) at (800) 434-0222 to report any solicitations regarding Medicare. He or she is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agent or official and that you must pay a fine because you have bought or attempted to buy discounted prescription drugs from a foreign pharmacy. Report such calls to the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations at (800) 521-5783. He or she is calling from Microsoft or some legitimate company to warn you that your computer has a security problem and offers a free security check. You may then be tricked into buying some software or services that you don’t need, giving out credit card information, and allowing access to your computer so malware can be downloaded. If you fall for this scam you should change your computer and financial institution passwords, scan your computer for malware, and contact you bank and credit card providers. He or she is calling from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters and asks for your Social Security Number (SSN) to confirm that you are registered. He or she is calling from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and offers to help you apply for disability benefits. The scammers will try to get you to give or confirm your SSN. You can tell it’s a scam because 3 SSA representatives will not make unsolicited calls and request personal information. If you have questions about disability benefits, or get calls offering help with them, call the SSA (800) 772-1213. You should also report the fraud attempt to the SSA Office of the Inspector General at https://oig.ssa.gov/report. You need to call an unfamiliar phone number because you are the respondent in a lawsuit and have 48 hours to respond. The caller also says that a restraining order had been issued as part of the proceeding. Don’t call the number. Google it to see if it is a legitimate business or the source of threatening phone calls. In the former, the most likely search result would be the website of the business or possibly a website describing that business. In the latter, you might find websites where individuals post harassing, threatening and scamming phone calls that they receive. While the results may not be definitive, you will likely get some idea as to the legitimacy of the source. He or she is calling to enroll you in a health insurance plan under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly called Obamacare, or to sell you an insurance card that is “required” to obtain the insurance. Nobody from the federal or state government will contact you about this, much less ask you to wire money, load money onto a prepaid debit card, or provide your bank account routing number or any other personal information. Hang up on any of these callers. And don’t press any key to talk to an operator or get your name taken off their list. Visit www.HealthCare.gov if you want information about health insurance in your state. He or she is from San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), says that you are late on a payment and if you don’t pay immediately your gas and electricity will be cut off. You are told to buy a prepaid debit card and call back with its number. SDG&E says it does not contact customers by phone and ask for credit card information. Furthermore, under rules mandated by the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC), power companies must tell customers who are behind on their payments that they can set up a bill- payment plan giving them at least three months to get accounts up to date. Call SDG&E at (800) 411-7343 if you have any concerns about being contacted or have any billing-related questions. He or she is from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and threatens to suspend your driver license if you don’t pay your registration fee now.