AARP Nebraska August 2025 Scam Watch Alerts

Scams are constantly evolving, but many share common warning signs. Recognizing these can help you to react safely. Most scams involve three elements: unexpected contact, a surge of emotion, and a sense of urgency. Together, these elements form a “trigger” for a safe response. Similar to “stop, drop, and roll” for fire, the safe response to scams is an “active pause”—a deliberate act that allows us to move away from an emotional response and engage with logic.

With the active pause, we can reflect on what we might know about the situation confronting us. Is this something I have heard about before? Does the scenario make sense? Is there a way I can verify this communication? In the end, an active pause can help us recognize the scam and protect our money and sensitive information. Know the triggers, know the response: Pause. Reflect. Protect.

Cryptocurrency Kiosk Scams:
Cryptocurrency kiosks, also known as crypto ATMs or virtual currency kiosks, are used to convert dollars into digital currency. These machines may look like regular ATMs, but criminals can also use them as a fast, easy, and hard-to-trace way to get access to victims’ cash. Cryptocurrency kiosks make it easy for scammers to convince victims to deposit thousands of dollars to “solve” urgent financial problems, making it more difficult to recover stolen funds.

In many cases, these scams begin with a message from someone claiming to be a trusted source, directing you to withdraw cash from your financial institution and head to a nearby cryptocurrency kiosk. Once the cash is fed into the cryptocurrency kiosk, it's converted to cryptocurrency and ultimately lands in the criminal’s wallet. 

Criminals are finding great success in convincing targets to use cryptocurrency kiosks because they aren’t well understood. If you receive an unexpected communication from someone who claims to represent a business you engage with, sign into your account via an app or website or call using a number on a paper statement, rather than following their direction on responding by a given link or phone number. If someone ever contacts and directs you to a cryptocurrency kiosk to solve an emergency, it’s a scam.

Natural Disaster Scams:
April through August are the most common months for natural disasters to occur throughout the U.S. Following extreme weather events, dubious contractors and outright scammers descend on affected communities offering quick, cheap fixes. They canvas neighborhoods in search of “work” that they may or may not even attempt to do—often targeting older homeowners.

Before any disaster, it’s a good idea to call your insurance company to clarify your coverage and ask any questions you might have. Investigate before hiring a contractor and check the vehicle of any contractor who arrives unsolicited for a business name, phone number, and their state contractor license number. You can also look businesses up on the Better Business Bureau (https://www.bbb.org) and other consumer review sites to double check. Not everyone who shows up after a storm is there to help you rebuild. Take your time, ask questions, and know that you are not alone.

Customer Service Scams:
Most of us value the ability to speak with a real person when dealing with a company-related issue or concern, and what better way to find customer service than to search for it online? Criminals are well aware of this tendency and take advantage of it. Customer service scams often involve criminals setting up fake web pages and phone numbers to impersonate legitimate businesses. They buy online ads to appear high up in a search list and answer incoming calls pretending to be friendly customer service agents of a particular company. Perpetrators also send phony text and email messages and post on social media impersonating customer service for major brands.

The next time you’re looking for an organization’s customer service number, log into your account if you have one or find it on a prior statement. If you go online to find it, be sure to type the company web address directly into your browser rather than doing a search.

If you've been targeted by a customer service scam, report it to the company involved through contact information on the company’s official website. If you’ve been victimized, report it to your local police or file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (https://www.ic3.gov).

Learn how to spot and avoid scams with the AARP Fraud Watch Network^TM. Suspect a scam? Call their free Helpline at 877-908-3360 and talk to a trained fraud specialist about what to do next. Learn more at www.aarp.org/NebraskaScamAlerts.