Better to be proactive when it comes to fighting fraud!

Guest Blogger and AARP Maryland volunteer Jim Gutman shares tips on how to spot and fight fraud.

It doesn't matter how young or old you are in Maryland when it comes to frauds and scams. Whether they come via e-mail or phone or some combination of the two, frauds targeting our bank accounts, credit cards and other personal information are proliferating. And even the most innocuous-seeming communication can contain the seeds for identity theft or worse if you're not careful.

As a semi-retired business owner working out of my Maryland home, I've received lots of these kinds of communications in recent months even though all my phone numbers are registered on the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) do-not-call list. Moreover, the communications I get are not all as obvious as the legendary e-mail from a Nigerian who wants to give you money if you'll just do a "little thing" for him first.

Among the most insidious of the current frauds are phone calls, allegedly from the IRS, insisting on large immediate payments to avoid jail terms or huge fines and calls purportedly from Microsoft saying they want to fix a problem on your computer, while what they really want to do is install a virus if you let them have access. I just received a robocall on my business line today asking me to update my free Google business listing, which would have involved giving the scammers (not Google) confidential financial information and then paying fees by credit card for their help on the listings (had I agreed). Perhaps worst among the frauds – in terms of taking advantage of your desire to aid family members –are scammers claiming to be a stranded relative (maybe he or she got that person's name from social media?) calling for your help in the form of quick cash.

In 2014, the last year for which full data are available, more than 46,000 Marylanders reported being victims of fraud and identity theft, according to the FTC. But there is help available for you to fight these insidious crimes, the Maryland office of AARP wants you to know.

The AARP Fraud Watch Network tracks scams and sends e-mail alerts about them to anyone of any age who wants them. The network also has a toll-free phone number (877-908-3360) staffed by volunteers trained in how to spot and report frauds. The AARP volunteers also are online at www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork .

But what are some other things you can do on your own to reduce the risk that you'll become a victim of one of these frauds? Many of them relate to stopping unwanted phone calls and shredding sensitive information. The first thing, experts agree, is don't interact with these kinds of phone calls, even to select a "take me off the list" option. That actually helps the scammers by showing the phone number is active for use in future calls or, worse yet, may result in transferring you to a live person ready with a hard-sell approach to the fraud.

Second, consider using technology yourself to block unwanted calls. The AARP Fraud Watch Network notes that you can set Android cell phones to Privacy Mode to let only contact-list calls go through and use Call Rejection to send other calls directly to your voice mail. The Do Not Disturb option on iPhones also limits these calls. If you're willing to pay a little money to your phone carrier, all of the big ones have cost-blocking services that may carry small costs, or you can buy call-blocking devices that work with most carriers.

There also are free services such as Nomorobo, which intercepts calls after the first ring and blocks those on its FTC-assisted blacklist of nearly 1 million numbers. But this highly praised system works only with an Internet-based service offered by participating cable providers.

Being informed is the best protection against scams and frauds, AARP points out. Toward that end, the AARP Fraud Watch Network website also offers a scam-tracking map containing warnings from law enforcement and first-hand accounts of scams from people in Maryland as well as in other states. It was a lot better for me to hear about these scams before I got the e-mails and phone calls containing them. Remember that, especially in this case, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!.

What are you favorite fraud prevention tips?