4 Scams Consumers Must Avoid

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/08/22/4-Scams-Consumers-Must-Avoid

By Marine Cole, The Fiscal Times
August 22, 2014

•••••

Reports of consumer fraud have increase by more than 60 percent since 2008, while online scams have doubled from just over 20 percent of all fraud in 2007 to nearly 40 percent in 2011, according to an AARP study, “Caught in the Scammer’s Net,” published in March.
•••••

1. E-ZPass phishing scam: Consumers are reporting bogus toll violation notices sent by email, alerting them that they’ve failed to pay for driving on toll roads. The email leads them to a link to download their invoice. If consumers click on it, the document spreads viruses to their computers. Drivers should know that legitimate notices are sent by mail, not email.

2. Hotel credit card scam: A scammer calls a hotel and asks to be connected to a specific room number. If it happens to be your room, the person on the line pretends to be the front desk and to have problems with your credit card information, asking to you to read your credit card numbers and to verify the last three digits on the back of your card. ...

3. Facebook “color change” app scam: This malicious app that promises to let you pick a different color scheme for your Facebook layout actually redirects you to a phishing site. ...

4. IRS phone scam: The Internal Revenue Service recently issued a warning about bogus phone calls to taxpayers demanding payment while fraudulently claiming to be from the IRS. ...