Phone calls

The Better Business Bureau has identified several of these scams including one where the caller promises a cruise in exchange for taking their political survey.  At the conclusion of the survey someone gets on the line asking for your Social Security Number and credit card number.  He claims it is to cover port fees for the cruise.  Of course there is no cruise.  They are merely taking you for a “ride” to get your money and your information.

Emails

Election years give criminals an opportunity to harvest your contacts as well as your personal information.  The criminals create email chain letters, typically stating either fact or fiction about the opposing party, hoping you will forward to your contacts.  What you don’t know is that every time it gets forwarded it send a blind copy to the creator of the email so he can harvest the email addresses.  These are then sold to spammers.  Best way to avoid this is to choose to NOT forward these types of emails or at the very least BCC (blind copy) your contacts as your email address is already exposed.  Another scam is to ask you to verify your voting eligibility.  The intent is to get you to provide your Social Security Number and other sensitive information.  If you have a question contact your local county election office directly.  DO NOT reply to the unsolicited email.

Bottom line is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER provide your information (personal or financial) to any unsolicited phone call, email or survey.  In this day and age it is difficult to very the identity of the person you are dealing with on the other end.

If you have questions or believe you are a victim of one of these scams give us a call 239-435-9111.