Fraud Alert

If someone is calling you to alert you to fraud, nine out of ten times they are themselves the fraudster. These days fraud-alert fraudsters are sophisticated, and they may know information about you like your SSN, address, etc., and are playing a long game not asking for money at first. Warning signs: they prohibit you from talking to anyone else, and you can’t hang up, or call back. This very long account, How I Got Scammed Out of $50,000, by a very savvy financial advice columnist who got scammed by so-called fraud investigators has all the elements of the common tricks. It matches exactly with close friends who have been scammed. Yes, it can happen to you. Learn from others’ mistakes. — KK