February has been a very busy month with scammers using email, phone and text messaging to reach out and help themselves to our money. Right now, the most prevalent scam has been filing for unemployment benefits in your name, USBank Relia card, and now you might be receiving a 1099 for the unemployment benefits you have not requested nor received.
Barbara Bennett
The Unemployment Benefits scam has resulted in over $36 billion dollars lost across the U.S. In Colorado, about one million potentially fraudulent claims have been submitted -vs- about the same legitimate claims. So far, Colorado has lost about $6.5 million in fraudulent claims but the CDLE estimates these fraud protocol flags have saved paying out about $7 billion in claims. They have started a program called ID.me to help protect legitimate claims. Recently they sent out 69.7K requests for claimants to provide their ID.me proof and only 14.3k have responded. Please note that any email correspondence from a government agency that you receive should end in .gov. If not, it’s not legit.
Scammers are now using text messaging (SMISHING) to get you to click on their link for an important notice from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) – so beware and don’t click on it. There are specific actions we recommend if you receive any of these, so please check our website for these scam cards. We should be prepared for another round since the unemployment ends soon and a new wave of applications will be coming through if the Senate approves the latest bill.
Where are the scammers getting your information? From data breaches such as the 2018 Marriott International breach, or Equifax at breach in 2017 that impacted anyone with a credit card. They also can get it from you How are the scammers getting the benefits? They try to get the pin-number to access the benefits on the Relia Card.
Another topic that has come up in the last few months has been dealing with some businesses that have not lived up to their end of the contract for services and have already been paid for the services. Here are some things you should be aware of when purchasing services or products –
Always pay with a credit card or Paypal so you have some protection if the product or service either doesn’t happen or is not what the agreement was for. Never use Venmo or other cash transaction apps unless it’s a family member or friend – once you send the money you can’t get it back and you have no protection. Never use your debit card – the money goes directly out and you have no protection on that either. Never pay someone with gift or money cards – if they ask you for this – red flag for a scam.
Check with the Better Business Bureau or google the company to check their reviews.
Email scams are hot right now – remember that these scammers can copy a logo of reputable business and use it in their scam. They also copy the formatting of correspondence and use in their email. I have seen Apple, Geek Squad, Best Buy, Amazon and many other emails using the company logo and telling me to click on a link or get back with them for a purchase of hundreds of dollars that I supposedly made or my Amazon Prime is renewing. There are usually telltale hints that it is a scam but many times people miss them and fall for the scam. We have some examples of these emails on our scams webpage.
Phone calls – every day and all day – best advice is not to answer a call unless you are positive you know the person – let it go to voicemail. Never push any numbers (they say – press ## to be taken off the list) and don’t call them back. Nomorobo.com is great for reducing robo-calls on your landline (and it’s free) – my phone rings just once and then I know it was a robo call that got shut down. You can also get it on your cell phone but they do charge for that. There are other apps for cell phones as well. The FTC and carriers are all trying to slow these down, but it is a very complicated challenge but at least they are working on it.
I hope you are all well and sharing scam information far and wide. Please stay safe, enjoy the spring like weather and continue to be alert.
Visit our Larimer County Sheriff’s Fraud Webpage.
Barbara EJ Bennett, MBA
Chief Scambuster
Sheriff’s Auxiliary/Crime Prevention Unit Coordinator
Larimer County Sheriff’s Office
2501 Midpoint Drive
Ft Collins, CO 80525