New Scammer Tactic: Government Grants
Scammers beware.
By Lydia Richins, Marketing —
New Year New Scams
Scammers are constantly trying to find new ways to cheat you out of your money. You may be familiar with the classic email of a Nigerian Prince who wants to transfer one million dollars in diamonds to you. Or the scheme of a hacker who’s taken over your grandmother’s Facebook. Now scammers have taken to disguising themselves as the government.
Government Imposters
Look for calls, emails and Facebook messages that profess to be from government agencies claiming that you are eligible for a government grant. They explain that in order to receive this grant you need fill out an application and pay your taxes (or fees). Since they want quick cash they’ll request that you send the money by way of a wire transfer or through a debit card. Even if they don’t ask for money up front the information on the “application” may give the scammer enough information to steal your identity.
Protecting You From Identity Theft
Now that you’re aware, you won’t fall for this simple scammer’s trick. Unfortunately, scammers will find new ways to try to steal your identity. That’s why Converus® has created IdentityDetect™. IdentityDetect uses simple keystrokes to sense a scammer in less than a minute with 90% accuracy. With technology like this, even the trickiest of scammers will find out that crime doesn’t pay.
