Every year thousands of people fall victim to scams around tax season. Use the tips listed below to make sure to you don’t get tricked into becoming the scammer’s next victim.

• Check the status of any pending refund on the IRS official website: Where’s my refund.
• Use multi-factor authentication when available.
• Monitor your bank accounts and credit reports often.
• Shred documents with personal and financial information.

Practice good cybersecurity:

• Use strong passwords on all online accounts.
• Don’t click suspicious links or attachments in emails, text messages, on websites and social media.
• Be wary of social media ads.
• Only visit known and safe websites.

Red Flags:

• If messages have a sense of urgency.
• Spelling and grammar errors.
• Unexpected emails or text messages with a link or request to download an app.
• Messages from strange email addresses or phone numbers.

Read this article published by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Identity Theft Awareness.

Read this article published by the FTC on popular IRS scams.

 

 Financial abuse is when someone takes or misuses another person’s money or property for the benefit of someone other than that person. For example, neighbors, caregivers, professionals, and even family and friends may take money without permission, fail to repay money they owe, charge too much for services, or not do what they were paid to do.

Anyone of any age can experience financial abuse. However, some people may be at greater risk of becoming the target of financial crimes than others. As people age, they may become bigger targets for financial abuse because they have built up their savings and property during their lives.

People may also experience changes in their thinking processes that can make it harder to make financial decisions or to recognize scams. The percentages of people living in assisted communities and nursing homes who have trouble with memory and thinking skills are much higher than in the general population. People experiencing these challenges are often more vulnerable to financial abuse. The targeting of such people is called Financial Elder Abuse. 

If you or someone you love is a victim to financial elder abuse and are a Pioneer member, please contact Pioneer Federal Credit Union immediately at 208-587-3304.

For more information on financial elder abuse please check out the CFPB resources.

Scam artists will use any leverage they can get to separate you from your money. Sadly, that includes exploiting a grandparents' love and concern for their grandchildren or children.

The victim gets a call from someone posing as his or her grandchild. The person explains, in a frantic-sounding voice, that he or she is in trouble: There’s been an accident, an arrest or a robbery. To up the drama and urgency, the caller might claim to be hospitalized or stuck on a foreign country. To make the impersonation more convincing, they will throw in a few family particulars, gleaned from the actual grandchild’s social media activity. The fraudster then asks for money and uses the urgency of “please don’t tell mom and dad!”

Check out AARP for more information on grandparent scams.

Investment scams involve promises of big payouts, quick money, or guaranteed returns. Always be suspicious of any investment opportunities that promise a high return with little to no risk. Remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is and likely to be a scam.

You get a call, email, or letter saying you won a sweepstakes, lottery, or prize- like an iPad, new car, or something else. But you can tell it’s a scam because of what they do next: they ask you to pay money or give them your account information to get the prize. If you pay, you’ll lose your money and find out there never was a prize.

Check out the FTC for more information on lottery and prize scams.

Mobile payment app scams are on the rise! Mobile payment apps can be a fast and convenient money movement option. Scammers utilize how fast the money moves and take advantage of unaware people.

Reports to the FTC show people using mobile payment apps have increased significantly.

Remember to only use payment apps to send money to people you know and trust. If someone is requesting that you only use payment apps to send funds or have a sense of urgency with you sending the funds immediately, these are red flags of a possible scam.

Check out the FTC for more information on mobile payment app scams.

Tech support scams are an industry-wide issue where scammers use scare tactics to trick you into unnecessary technical support services to supposedly fix devices or software problems that don’t exist.

Scammers are trying to get you to pay them to “fix” a nonexistent problem with your device or software. At worst, they’re trying to steal your personal financial information; and if you allow them to remote into your computer to perform this “fix” they will often install malware, ransomware, or other unwanted programs that can steal your information or damage your data or device.

Scammers may call you directly on the phone and pretend to be representatives of a tech company. They might even spoof the caller ID so that is displays a legitimate support phone number from a trusted company. They’ll probably ask you to install applications that give them remote access to your device. Using remote access, these experienced scammers can misrepresent normal system messages as signs of problems.

Check out Microsoft for more information on tech support scams.

Scammers advertise jobs the same way legitimate employers do: online (in ads, on job sites, social media), in newspapers, and sometimes on TV and radio. They promise you a job, but what they want is your money and your personal information.

Work from home job scams: Many people would like to work from home and generate income. Scammers know this, so they place ads, often online, claiming that they have jobs where you can make thousands of dollars a month working from home with little time and effort. The job could be anything from reshipping products to selling merchandise to people you know. Sometimes scammers try to get you interested by saying that you can be your own boss, start your own business or set your own schedule. If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is!

Scammers post fake job ads for nannies, caregivers, and virtual assistants on job sites. They may also send emails that look like they’re from someone in your community, or who is part of an organization you know, like your university or a local business. If you apply, the person who hires you might send you a check. They’ll tell you to keep part of the money for your services and then send the rest to someone else. That is a scam and a legitimate employer will never ask you to that. What happens next is the check is fake. It can take days for a bank/credit union to discover this, but once they do, the institution will require you to repay the full amount. So if you ever get an offer that includes depositing a check and then using some of the money for any reason, that’s a scam and you should walk away.

For more information, please check out the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Advice on new employment scams.

Romance scams occur when a criminal adopts a fake online identity to gain a victim’s affection and trust. The scammer then uses the illusion of a romantic or close relationship to manipulate and/or steal from the victim.

The criminals who carry out a romance scams are experts at what they do and will seem genuine, caring, and believable. Con artists are present on most dating and social media sites.

The scammer's intention is to establish a relationship as quickly as possible, endear themselves to the victim, and gain trust. Scammers may propose marriage and make plans to meet in person, but that will never happen. Eventually, they will ask for money.

Scam artists often say they are in the building and construction industry and are engaged in projects outside the U.S. That makes it easier to avoid meeting in person- and more plausible when they ask for money for a medical emergency or unexpected legal fee.

If someone you meet online needs your bank account information to deposit money, they are using your account to carry out other theft and fraud schemes. Please contact Pioneer Federal Credit Union immediately if you believe that you are a victim to a romance scam.

For more information on Romance Scams please check out the FBI's post on romance scams.

Social media permeates the lives of many people. We use it to stay in touch, make new friends, shop, and have fun.

Reports to the FTC show that social media is also increasingly where scammers go to con us. More than one in four people who reported losing money to fraud in 2021 said it started on social media with an ad, post or message. In fact, the data suggests that social media was far more profitable to scammers in 2021 that any other method.

45% of reports of money lost to social media scams in 2021 were about online shopping. In nearly 70% of these reports, people said that they placed an order, usually after seeing an ad, but never received the merchandise. Some reports even described ads that impersonated real online retailers that drove people to lookalike websites.

Check out the FTC for more information on social media scams.

Criminals send emails and text messages about auto-renewal subscriptions in hopes you will click on a malicious link. There has been a rise in the number of phishing emails claiming to be it’s to be renew an annual subscription. The phishing emails go on to ask people to click on a link to review the summary details of their renewal. However, the link is malicious and either installs malware on your computer, steals your personal information or takes you to fake a website.

Never click on links that you do not know. Do not respond to unsolicited text messages or emails. Always call the number directly off the businesses website and do not trust numbers or emails listed in emails or text messages.

Check out the I.D. theft center for more information about subscription renewal scams.