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AARP AARP States Oklahoma Scams & Fraud

Fraud Watch Network Alert: Blame the Scammers, Not the Victims

When a person is victimized by a scam, the victim is often portrayed as “falling for” something. This misses the part of the story of how skilled these criminals are at moving us to an emotional state, where our logical thinking takes a backseat. It also neglects how sophisticated many of these scams are.

A fraud-savvy colleague and friend of mine recently became a victim of a credit card scam. Here’s how it played out.

How It Works:

  • A scammer got hold of my friend’s credit card number and placed a seemingly legitimate charge on her bill. In my friend’s case, it was a charge for credit monitoring services in the name of one of the major credit bureaus.
  • Seeing red, my friend called the 800 number listed on the charge.
  • It was when she was in the process of “verifying” her personal information that she realized it was fraud.

What You Should Know:

  • Scammers are sophisticated – they know how to move us away from logic and into a heightened emotional state. When we are emotional, we risk making decisions without taking time to think things through.
  • If you’re confronted with something upsetting, take a deep breath and pause before you take an action.

What You Should Do:

  • If you see a suspicious charge on your credit card statement, call the number on the back of your card and not the number next to the suspicious charge – that number could be a direct line to the scammer.
  • If you end up sharing personal information that a criminal could use to open credit accounts or take out loans in your name, contact each credit bureau and request a credit freeze. A new federal law that President Trump is expected to sign soon will make credit freezes free to place, lift and permanently remove. Learn more about placing a credit freeze at www.annualcreditreport.com, under Protect Your Identity.

A sophisticated scammer targeted my friend. She’s not to blame – in fact, she gets kudos for protecting herself with credit freezes and for sharing her story.

As we always say, when it comes to fraud, vigilance is our number one weapon. You have the power to protect yourself and your loved ones from scams. Please share this alert with friends and family.

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