AARP Indiana and Indiana Disability Rights team up to protect against census fraud

With the 2020 Census approaching, it is crucial to protect yourself from census scams.

AARP Indiana and Indiana Disability Rights are teaming up to get Hoosiers the information they need to protect themselves against those looking to illicitly profit from this public process.

Tune into www.facebook.com/indianadisabilityrights/ on February 20 at 10 a.m. (EST) for an in-depth Facebook Live discussion with AARP Indiana’s point person on census fraud, Addison Pollock, on how to keep you and your resources safe.

“It’s important for Hoosiers to get an accurate 2020 Census,” Pollock said. “Unfortunately, predatory fraudsters take advantage of a public process to make ill-gotten gains.”

Like other instances of fraud and scams, there are warning signs when a bad actor is trying to defraud you – and there are even more ways to spot and differentiate the real deal from the fake.

To read more about the warning signs of census fraud and tips on how to spot census scams, visit https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/census.html.

We hope you’ll tune in on February 20, but if you can’t, here’s a quick breakdown of Do’s and Don’ts when it comes to navigating the Census:

DO:

• Do verify that a census taker who comes to your home is legitimate. They should have a Census Bureau photo ID badge (with a Department of Commerce watermark and an expiration date) and a copy of the letter the bureau sent you. You can also search for an agent’s name in the Census Bureau’s online staff directory.
• Do confirm that a questionnaire you’ve received is on the Census Bureau’s official list of household or business surveys.
• Do contact the bureau’s National Processing Center or the regional office for your state to verify that an American Community Survey or other census communication is genuine.
• Do check that a census mailing has a return address of Jeffersonville, Ind., the site of the National Processing Center. If it’s from somewhere else, it’s not from the Census Bureau.
• Do check the URL of any supposed Census website. Make sure it has a census.gov domain and is encrypted — look for https:// or a lock symbol in the browser window.

DON’T:

• Don’t give your Social Security number, mother’s maiden name, or bank or credit card numbers to someone claiming to be from the Census Bureau. Genuine Census representatives will not ask for this information.
• Don’t reply, click links or open attachments in a suspicious census email. Forward the message to ois.fraud.reporting@census.gov.
• Don’t trust caller ID — scammers can use “spoofing” tools to make it appear they’re calling from a real Census Bureau number. Call the National Processing Center at 800-523-3205, 800-642-0469 or 800-877-8339 (TDD/TTY) to verify that a phone survey is legitimate.