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Protect Your Personal Information
The Latest Work-at-Home SwindlePosting your résumé on an online job-search site can be a great way to tap job opportunities. Be warned, however, that genuine employers aren't the only people trolling those sites -- they're also favorites of scammers operating work-at-home schemes.
The latest incarnation of this time-tested fraud begins when the crook gets your e-mail address and other personal information from a résumé you've posted online. He sends you a note in which he claims to represent a money-transfer company looking to hire you to test its money-wiring services. His firm will send you a check, he says, which you are to deposit in your bank account before wiring the money back -- keeping a "commission" of 5 to 20 percent for yourself.
"The company's check is counterfeit, of course," explains Susan Grant, director of the National Fraud Information Center. "And you're stuck owing your bank all the money you've wired."
Grant advises job hunters to be wary of any too-good-to-be-true employment offers, especially one that involves wiring money.
Fake Jury Duty Con
Jury duty may be a pain -- but the new fake jury duty scam is worse. The con begins when you receive a phone call, supposedly from your local court. The caller says that a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you've failed to report for jury duty.
Flustered, you protest that you weren't notified -- this must be a mistake! Not to worry, says the helpful caller; I'll just need your Social Security number and date of birth to check our records. You provide that information -- and the scammer has what he needs to steal your identity.
Real courts usually correspond by mail, not the telephone. And they don't need your Social Security number -- just your name and address should suffice.
Medicare Fraud
As many seniors know, the Medicare prescription drug program that took effect on January 1 is nothing if not confusing. It also administers an awful lot of money -- and the confluence of cash and confusion has drawn con artists like flies to you-know-what. Some fraudsters simply bilk seniors by selling phony plans, while others pose as insurers selling Medicare drug benefits in order to pilfer personal information.
No legitimate Medicare prescription drug plan will send salespeople to your door uninvited. Likewise, participating insurers are prohibited from asking for personal information as part of their marketing. Insurers may ask for your Social Security number when you're actually enrolling in their plan -- but they'll only need credit card or bank account numbers if you're signing up for automatic payments.
From Reader's Digest
Additional reporting by Nate Hardcastle
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