credit, investment, savings, security
Only Scammers Get Paid with Gift Cards or Cryptocurrency
Crime is as old as civilization, and it’s always wise to be on the alert for anyone who may target you as a potential victim. Fraudsters may contact you randomly or target you specifically based on some personal information they have about you, such as an email address, phone number or the name of a company where you have an account. They can email or call you, pretending to be from a financial institution you have a relationship with, from the government (such as the Internal Revenue Service or Social Security Administration), or they may use the name of a well-known software company to alert you that something is wrong with your computer and they can fix it, either online or over the phone, for a fee. While fraud occurs everywhere, residents of some states appear to be more heavily targeted by scammers. A recent U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report noted that “The states with the highest per capita rates of reported fraud in 2020 were Nevada, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, and Georgia.”