Dealing With Con Men: The Most Common Scams Out There And How to Identify Them

We all like to think we’re too savvy to be fleeced by a con man. But thanks to technology and years of practice, scams are getting more advanced and sophisticated to the point where it can be hard to tell whether or not something is a scam.

What we’re going to do? Outline common scams you should be watching out for and how to deal with them safely and responsibility.

Work From Home 
Who doesn’t like the sound of working from home? No one wants to deal with a long commute or have to sit through yet another day in the office. Getting to work in your pajamas is something most of us fantasize about. Many scammers play off of this fantasy and will call you up, offering you the opportunity to work from home. Usually, this is an attempt to get you to either launder money or to hand over your financial information for the chance to attend a “seminar” or receive a “special package” for starting your own website. In general, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. With very few exceptions, if you want to work from home you’ll either need to have an employer willing to let you do this or you’ll need to freelance.

You Owe Money to the Bank or the IRS 
This scam is especially common during tax season but people have had to deal with variations of this trick throughout the year. How this works is the scammers will call you, pretending to be from your bank or with the IRS. They’ll allege you’ve either been accused of fraud or that you’re being audited. What you need to know? The IRS will never call you and threaten you to hand over your money- if you owe money on your taxes, they’ll typically send you a bill by mail.

You’re Supposedly Under Arrest 
These scammers, like those who pretend to be from your bank or with the IRS, try to prey on your fears to scare you into giving them money. They might tell you that they have an outstanding warrant for your arrest and you’ll need to pay a fine or go to jail. They’ll then demand you give them confidential information, such as your social security number and bank account info. Keep in mind, these are not actual police offers and cannot legally arrest you. Don’t fall for it.

How to Handle These Scams 
Safely responding to these scams is the key to beating con artists at their own game. The most important thing is to never give personal information or your hard earned money to someone over the phone, especially if you’re not sure who they are or why they’re contacting you.

Since you have their phone number, what you want to do is consider a reverse lookup for cellphones. With a reverse cell phone number lookup, you’ll basically search for the true owner of the number. This will tell you who owns the number and where they’re based out of. These free reverse cell phone lookup services, and there are many of them, are based on publicly available information and are perfectly legal.

When you’ve conducted a search like this, what you need to do is contact authorities. Get in touch with the police and consider filing a report with the Fair Trade Commission to make sure these scammers can be identified and brought to justice so that way, they can’t fool or scam anybody else. Your safety matters over the phone and identifying crooks can help your neighbors from being bamboozled too.