Gift Card Scams - Email Version

Free Amazon Gift Card! Click on the link.

Check the email. It probably has a very weird address, and is not from Amazon.

The Sender might just be hustling your personal information for a mailing list.

Or something much worse. HIT DELETE. 

Scams, Scams and More Scams

A steady stream of scams are aimed at U.S. citizens from all over the world.

Tax agent scams

Overseas lottery scams

Overseas sweepstakes scams

Collection agency scams

Summer contractor scams

Caregiver scams

It never ends.  Be careful, especially with phone calls.

And remember....

 IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT IS

Troy (Michigan) woman loses $703K in online swindle

No comment necessary.


http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2017/03/22/troy-woman-fleeced/99510120/

HIgh Quality Health Insurance Starting at $49!

Really? Can this be true? It is on the Internet........ It is in my email.

No, absolutely not true. It is either a scam or the insurance is worse than nothing.

If the currently proposed health care reform is passed in Washington you are likely to see a flood of mail and Internet sales pitches - and most of all of them will be worse than nothing.

Buyer beware!

Now What?

The federal government is in a state that can best be described as chaos.

So is it time to panic? No. We will return to some sort of routine, although a different routine.

The government has three branches so no single branch can do anything too crazy or too quick. Things will eventually calm down.

The biggest danger right now is a quick, dramatic and not very smart overhaul of health care. Any "reform" of Medicare though will likely come later. This "reform" could be something good or something horrible.

Stay tuned.

Your Cyber Life

Unless you live in a cabin in the wilderness and trade pelts for food you have no real privacy.

Data mining companies, websites, sales organizations and financial institutions exist in a web of information exchanges that creates comprehensive databases on everything you do.

Some of this is harmless, if you search the Internet for fishing tackle you will soon enough be targeted with pop-up ads for fishing tackle.

Some of this is less benign, the old fashioned credit bureau is not the new fangled data mining shop and there is a massive dossier on everything you do.

But you do not do anything suspicious or criminal, so why care?

Correcting errors is a nightmare, as is identity theft. And as we well know, none of these data bases are hack proof.

Like it or not, you have a cyber life. In the future, how do we protect ourselves?

Phony Check Scams

You sell something via the Internet to someone in another state  for $150.

You are surprised to receive a cashier's check for $1500.

You email the buyer and ask what to do.

“Sorry, my mistake. Put the check in your bank account and send me a money order for $1350.”

A week later your bank calls and tells you the cashier's check was phony, and you owe the bank $1500 right now.

Oops.

Never cash a check that is seriously different than the amount due.

Never spend the money from an out-of-state check until it has sat in your bank account for a while.

Never assume a cashier's check from out-of-state or overseas is legitimate, unless you present it to that same bank in your local area. Take your time.

Seller beware.