Law enforcement agencies are expecting a significant increase in fraud and scam attempts in the coming weeks. Below is a message received from a local county’s sheriff’s office. Please share this information widely, especially with your clients. Discuss this with them during your wellness checks, ensuring they do not fall victim to someone looking to steal their money or identity.
Since the passing of the Economic Stimulus Package, we are expecting to see an uptick in attempted fraud and completed fraud cases. In order to get ahead of that, we want our citizens to be informed of possible schemes scammers may attempt.
- If you receive a call, text, or email asking for you social security number and/or bank routing number for direct deposit of your stimulus check into your account, do not provide this information to anyone.
- If you receive a call, text, or email asking for seed or start-up money to further research on a cure for Covid-19, please do not send money or provide any personal information to whomever is contacting you.
- If you receive a call, text, or email in regards to the contacting party needing money to provide a cure to a loved one, this is a scam also! Please do not send any money or provide any personal information to these persons making contact.
There is information available at: www.irs.gov. Also, here is another helpful link regarding scams posted on the IRS website: https://www.irs.gov/compliance/criminal-investigation/us-attorney-irs-warn-of-potential-fraud-scams-surrounding-covid-19-economic-impact-payments
If you or someone you know is the victim of fraud or attempted fraud, please call your respective Law Enforcement Agency.