As the tax season is upon us and Valentine’s Day is around the corner, it is important to be cautious about the different scams circulating around. Scammers may target your personal information or your small local business through text messages, social media chats, phone calls, and paper mail.
A common scam many people fall into is a phishing scam. According to the Federal Trade Commission, phishing scams are online scams that target consumers by sending them an e-mail that appears to be from a well-known source such as an internet service provider, bank, utility, or a mortgage company.
4 Different ways scammers act to avoid being scam:
1.     Impersonating organizations or companies you know. A common scam during this tax season is the IRS Impersonation scam. A caller says they are from the IRS stating you owe taxes and require you to pay immediately with them on the phone. Learn more about this and more impersonation scams at https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-avoid-government-impersonation-scam#IRS.
2.     Scammers may contact you and say there is a problem or a prize you can receive. Often, this happens with phone calls where scammers say there is a family emergency and need you to wire money to help. Also, be careful of social media prize drawings because scammers may impersonate sellers and give you a link to receive the prize but require you to enter all your personal information to win.
3.     They may pressure you to act immediately. Scammers may pretend to say you are in trouble and owe money. Or threaten to have a virus come onto your computer to force you to send money.
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4.     Scammers will tell you to pay a specific way. They may require you to pay with wiring money, sending gifts cards, or even using a payment app.
How to avoid a scam:
1.     Do not wire money or use gift cards, crypto currency, or payment app to pay anyone
2.     Do not give out any financial or personal information to someone who calls, texts, emails or messages you on social media
3.     Do not trust your caller ID
4.     Do not click on links in unexpected emails, texts, or social media messages
5.     Resist the pressure to act immediately
6.     Use secure and traceable transactions
To learn more about scams, visit: https://consumer.ftc.gov/scams