BY TELEPHONE
"Grandma!! This is your Grandson!"
A very troubled voice calls you grandma .. and your first reaction is to say, "Is that you Billie?"
Of course, he confirms that it is "Billie". He tells you he's in trouble and needs money sent to
him right now and please don't call his parents because they would make his life miserable.
TRUTH: It is NOT Billie. The parents would also tell you that "Billie" is just fine.
"This is the Jury Duty Foreman"
You learn that you have been ignoring calls for jury duty and when you deny getting any, the
foreman says he'll check but needs to confirm your Social Security Number and he asks other
information. TRUTH: It is not the jury duty foreman. The government doesn't work that way.
"Hello, this is Microsoft"
The voice claims to be from Microsoft saying your computer is infected or for some other reason
they need to relicense your computer so you won't be infecting other computers. TRUTH: No,
that voice is not from Microsoft and you can be sure that part way through the helpful assistance
he is offering will be a request for some personal information. Don't give it to him. Just hang up.
BY MAIL (FedEx, UPS, Etc):
You receive a check or Postal Money Order with instructions to cash it and then send most of
the amount back to the originator. Various reasons are given for this awkward exchange but
somehow they seem to make sense when you are holding a check for $1,000 with assurance
that there are more checks on the way. TRUTH: The money you received is a forgery and, while
it may take several days for that to be recognized by the banking system, you will have already
sent a lot of real money to the bad guys and you will get a bill from your bank because you
cashed a worthless check!
BY EMAIL:
You learn that you have won the big lottery! Millions of Dollars are yours ... but there is a small
catch in that the foreign country can't just send money like that overseas without the permission
of the recipient. All you need do is send a token amount and the money will come to you fast.
TRUTH: No it won't. There was no lottery. There is no money for you. All the money went from
you to them if you fell for this scam -- This scam was one of the originals.
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