There exist many risks when considering who is acceptable to hire to complete the desired home improvement. Home improvement fraud (HIF) exists within the contractor profession. In HIF, contractors promise to improve your home, but leave projects incomplete. Before hiring a contractor for a home improvement project, do your research. Review tips for avoiding home improvement fraud. If you have a problem with a home improvement project or want to research a contractor before hiring them, contact CAP for assistance by visiting ago.vermont.gov/cap or by calling 1-800-649-2424.
Category: Consumer
Wretched Robocalls
Reports of scams have not dropped below the 5,000 mark since before 2015 in large part due to robocalls. After nearly a decade, it’s clear these calls are not going away on their own. While scam nature varies, the one thing these scams have in common is the criminal use of expanded phone technology. In short, scammers have learned how to manipulate our phone systems to make millions of unscrupulous calls per minute. As long as they continue to make money, they will continue to call with enticing offers and troubling spiels.
When you get these troubling calls, pause and take time to reflect. Take steps to verify. Discuss the scams with friends and loved ones regularly. Keep on reporting them. Vermonters can help stop robocalls by reporting them to the Consumer Assistance Program: CAP’s online scam reporting form.
When Love is a Scam
Technological advances and the move of our social lives and networks to online platforms has shifted the dating world to unchartered territory–online dating websites (Match, Zoosk, OurTime, Plenty of Fish, OKCupid, eHarmony), dating apps (Bumble, Tinder, Hinge), gaming platforms (Words With Friends, Sociable, Yahtzee with Buddies) and unassuming networks (Facebook, Instagram). As if the dating world were not challenging enough to navigate. Now, those looking for love must also learn how to create a true connection through tech, while avoiding scammers.
At the end of last year, our office released a video and toolkit alerting Vermonters about imposter romance scams that can take place on dating platforms. Before looking for love online, checkout the video and tools we created to help you to identify unscrupulous love interests and relationships of confidence.
Your Face is Data. What Can Scammers Do with it?
Your face can be used in crimes, either targeting you or as an accomplice to one. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on synthetic identity fraud: “a fast-growing type of financial crime where fraudsters use an amalgamation of real and fake information to create a new identity.” Thanks to your facial features, a scammer can bypass facial authentication systems, making the scammer’s face challenging to identify, because “attackers are typically unwilling to use their real face when committing a crime.” And who’s to say you didn’t commit a crime when your face is all over the issue?
Introducing: Family Imposter/Emergency Scam Prevention Videos
No matter what the scammers say when they initiate the family imposter/ emergency scam, it is sure to spike emotion. Scammers call, claiming to be one of your most cherished loved ones—your grandchild—and ignite fear that those you care about are in dire need. With emotions running high, how can you not engage with the call, stay on the line, and find out more? You are worried and feel helpless because all you have to validate this story is the phone in your hand and the fear of what if. Verification of the family imposter scam starts with the SLOW method, a scam response strategy I created specifically to pause and identify scams. It urges people to Slow Down, Log the Contact, make One Call to a primary contact to discuss the incident, and call an organization in your life Who Cares, such as the Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) at 1-800-649-2424.