A lot of people assume that phone scams are mainly targeted at the elderly but in recent times, there is a new target. Many college students are new to managing their finances and the pitfalls that come along with the responsibility of doing this on their own. Welcome the new type of phone scam targeted towards college students that prey on the fact most are not aware of the pitfalls of such scams and ones that could lead to identity theft.
This particular scam is a variation on the imposter scam in which someone spoofs a phone number to appear legitimate in nature and claim to be from the FBI or other government agencies. The scammer will general have a story about how the student has unpaid parking tickets, owes money on their student loans, or unpaid taxes that are due. The scammer will then tell the student that unless these issues are cleared up and paid they will be subject to arrest. Scammers then tell the student to make payments via an untraceable method such as MoneyGram, a pre-loaded debit card, wire transfer, or cashier’s check.

In recent FBI report students in eight states have reported this type of scam. So far the states are North and South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Nebraska, Montana, and Washington.

In this scam, the primary goal is to get the college students to send the payments. However, there is a secondary more threatening aspect to these scams and that is to steal the identity of the college student themselves. Even the smallest piece of personal information can lead to someone’s identity being potentially stolen.

Here are some phone techniques that can serve anyone that is the target of phone scammers. It is never too early to start smart phone techniques and share them with everyone you know who could be the target of such scams.

First do not believe everything that you hear. Government agencies such as the FBI and IRS will never call you on the phone to inform you of a debt. This also is true of financial institutions and judicial systems so do not trust someone calling to be a representative of any of these institutions. Also, these institutions will already have the personal information that the scammers will be asking for so there would never be a need to provide this to them in the first place. As a rule, anytime that you owe one of these institutions money they will contact you via the U.S. Postal system.

Second is do not believe what you see on the phone’s caller ID. Phone numbers can be spoofed and faked on someone’s caller ID just as it is never wise to go to a website provided to you by a potential scammer. When in doubt it is best to call a number that you know to be real and only go to websites that you know to be correct as well. Be vigilant and never trust phone numbers or websites provided over the phone unless you initiated the call with a legitimate source first.

And finally, it is vital that you check your credit report on a regular basis. By law, everyone is allowed one free credit report a year from each of the three credit reporting agencies. There is a single government source that is authorized to provide these credit reports, and that is www.freecreditreport.com, and it will allow you to obtain your report once every 12 months. It is a good practice to stagger the reports one once every four months that way you are monitoring your credit year round. By reviewing your report on a regular basis, it will reduce the chances of identity theft occurring.

Be on the lookout for a scam in all shapes and forms these days. In some instances, people can steal your identity with extreme ease and for others, it may be more complicated in nature. But no one is immune to identity theft or being the target of a scam. But knowing what the latest scams are and with some simple routines, you can avoid these disasters. For more information or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly or leave a comment on the site.