Reblog – Writer Beware: The First Clue to an Email Scam May Be the Address
There seems to be an abundance of scam email preying on people, especially writers. I found this article to be really helpful to me. So I thought it might help you. Even if you are not an author, I believe it may help you from being fooled by emails full of sweetness and honey enticing you to click on their links, or pay for services you may not get or from people who may not be who they say they are. There are plenty of good people out there. Look for them. But watch out before clicking on links or replying to emails that “tell you how totally wonderful their deal is for you.” The article below gives you so much great information to help guide you to safe tactics and calmer moments.
Thank you, Gerd Altmann and Pixabay for allowing me to use this image.
“Beware Fraudulent Phone Calls” by Joan Y. Edwards
Your trust of yourself and your trust in others may go out the window if you fall for a fraudulent phone call or other scamming or fraud attempts.
Last month, I fell for a scam.
If someone calls you and says they are from a certain company and someone has hacked your account. Tell them thank you. Hang up and call the company back on a number you know is the company or organization’s customer service line. I didn’t and wished I had.
A man called and said someone had fraudulently added two phones to my mobile phone account. Oh my goodness. I thought…wow. They were fast at catching the fraudulent charges. I thought they were from the fraud department of my Verizon phone. But, they were not.
They sent me a text. It went directly in the same thread as my text messages from Verizon stating my automatic payment had been drafted. So I thought they were legitimate. However, scammers have a way of texting and imitating a phone from the company.
When they said they were deleting two phones, they were actually adding two phones.
Here is the thing to remember. Even if they say, like the man did to me, “The Good Guys always win.” They may not be the good guys.’
After it dawned on me that the call had not come from Verizon, and it was not the fraud department at Verizon who called, I called the real Verizon Customer Service, they said, “Yes, two phones had been added to my account and transferred me to the Fraud Department which took off the phones and tried to straighten it all out. I never fully trusted and could not get back into my account again. So I changed to a different mobile carrier.
I pray for all people who believe the only way they can make money is to fraudulently scam other people. I hope they find a legitimate way to make money.
There is another scam going around about paying tolls. It goes through your text messages, Block it and report it as spam. Toll Services do not use text messages.
Let people leave a message on your phone. If it is urgent, they will leave a message. You can then call a number for that particular company or organization that you know is legitimate.
Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards
Flip Flap Floodle Firebird Book Award Winner Will this little duck’s song save him from Mr. Fox?
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A scammer called me this week, posing as an IRS representative. I didn’t fall for it. I checked the internet to find out more about it. Please be alert and aware that this is going on all over the USA and scammers could choose your phone number to call. They may call in person or leave a recording. They tell you a badge number and may tell you to call a certain number before the IRS takes action against you.
The IRS will notify you by snail mail if there is a problem with your return or taxes.
Here’s what I found out on the internet at
“Other characteristics of this scam include:
Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security number.
Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.
Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.
If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:
If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue, if there really is such an issue.
If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484 or report it at: http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml
You can file a complaint using theFTC Complaint Assistant; choose “Other” and then “Imposter Scams.” If the complaint involves someone impersonating the IRS, include the words “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.”
Please tell your family and friends so they can be aware, alert, and safe.
Reblog – Writer Beware: The First Clue to an Email Scam May Be the Address
