{"id":758,"date":"2019-07-18T11:37:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T15:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/?p=758"},"modified":"2019-08-02T14:34:05","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T18:34:05","slug":"service-members-veterans-families-burdened-by-imposter-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/service-members-veterans-families-burdened-by-imposter-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Service Members, Veterans, and Families Burdened by Imposter Scams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

July\nis military consumer month, and here at the Consumer Assistance Program (CAP)\nwe hope to spotlight the most common type of scams affecting service members\nand veterans\u2014 imposter scams<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"122,500<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last year, more than 36,000 service\nmembers, veterans, or family members reported\nan imposter scam<\/a> nationwide. Imposter\nscams take a variety of forms.<\/a> For example, some imposters say they\nare calling to offer technical support or that they are from the Social\nSecurity Administration, while others pose as friends or family members with an\nemergency. The common thread is that they all involve a scammer pretending to\nbe a trustworthy person, to convince you to send money or personal information.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some examples of common imposter scams:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social\nSecurity Administration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nscam: <\/strong>Scammers call and\npretend to be from the Social Security Administration (SSA). They say your\nSocial Security number (SSN) has been suspended because of suspicious activity\nor it being involved in a crime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do: <\/strong>Be wary of responding to unsolicited contacts, and never provide personal information to someone you don\u2019t know. If you feel that your Social Security number has been compromised, call CAP for more information and visit identitytheft.gov<\/a> to file a report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needy Friend or Relative<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scam:\n<\/strong>Scammers claiming to be\na grandchild, friend\/relative or romantic interest contact consumer, reportedly\nin distress and needing money to be wired or transmitted with a reloadable\ncard, gift card (like iTunes), PayPal account payment, cash or check\/money\norder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do<\/strong>: Call your friends or family members on\nknown phone numbers to ensure that they are safe. Never wire or otherwise send\nfunds unless you can verify the emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech\nSupport<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scam: <\/strong>A phone call or pop-up message on your computer claiming to\nbe from Microsoft\/Windows or another well-known tech company. The scammers will\nsay that there\u2019s a virus or other problem with your computer and try to\npersuade you to give them remote access to resolve the issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nto do: <\/strong>If you get a\nphone call you didn\u2019t expect from someone who says there\u2019s a problem with your\ncomputer, hang up. Never call a\nnumber in a pop-up that warns you of computer problems. Real security warnings\nwill never ask you to call a phone number. Legitimate customer service information usually won\u2019t display\nas a pop-up. Companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google do not call you to\nnotify you of malware on your computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robocalls<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scam: <\/strong>If you answer the phone and hear a recorded message instead of a live person, it’s a robocall. Technology has made it cheap and easy for scammers to make illegal calls from anywhere in the world, and to hide from law enforcement by displaying fake caller ID information. The automated voice on the other end of the line may claim to be a utility, or government agency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do: <\/strong>Hang up the phone, don\u2019t call back, and do not provide any personal information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gift Card\nScams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
You may be asked to take a picture of or read numbers off the back of the card, which is like sending cash. Don’t do it!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The scam: <\/strong>Some\nimposters contact you with an urgent need for money, and ask you to pay with gift cards<\/a>\nright away. The imposters will often tell you to go buy popular gift cards\n(like, iTunes, Google Play, or Amazon) at a store near you. Once you buy the\ngift cards, the callers will then demand the gift card number and PIN on the\nback of the card. Those numbers provide the scammer with immediate access to\nthe money on the card. After you provide these numbers, the scammers typically disappear\nwithout a trace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gift cards are\nlike cash\u2014if you buy a gift card and someone uses it, you probably cannot get\nyour money back. Remember, gift cards are for gifts to people you know and\ntrust, not<\/strong> payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do: <\/strong>If\nyou paid a scammer with a gift card, call the company that issued the gift card\nright away and alert CAP. When you contact the company, tell them the gift card\nwas used in a scam. Ask them if they can refund your money. If you act quickly\nenough, the company might be able to get your money back. Also, tell the store\nwhere you bought the gift card as soon as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If ever you are unsure about a scam, give CAP a call.  We take scam reports every day and are familiar with the type of scams out there, so can help issue spot the red flags when something suspicious arises. Call us at 800-649-2424.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Contributing Writer: Madison Braz
Content Editor: Crystal Baldwin <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resources: Federal Trade Co<\/a>mmission<\/a>, IdentityTheft.gov<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July is military consumer month, and here at the Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) we hope to spotlight the most common type of scams affecting service members and veterans\u2014 imposter scams. Last year, more than 36,000 service members, veterans, or family members reported an imposter scam nationwide. Imposter scams take a variety of forms. For example,… Continue reading Service Members, Veterans, and Families Burdened by Imposter Scams<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4480,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[481474],"class_list":["post-758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-consumer","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":799,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions\/799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}