Scams and Protecting Your Money

A scam is a trick designed to get your money or your personal information. Most scams, no matter the story, lean on the same few pressures. Spotting the pressure is often easier than spotting the lie.

• Urgency: act now or something bad happens. Rushing keeps you from thinking it through.
• Secrecy: do not tell anyone. This stops you from getting a second opinion.
• Unusual payment: pay with gift cards, wire transfers, or apps that are hard to reverse.

Phishing is a message, by email, text, or call, that pretends to be from a company or person you trust in order to get your passwords, card numbers, or other private details.

In a fake check scam, someone sends you a check for more than you are owed and asks you to send the extra back, often quickly. The check looks real at first, so your bank may show the money as available.

Days later the check bounces, meaning it was never good, and the bank takes that money back out. By then you have already sent your own real money to the scammer. If someone overpays and asks for the difference back, treat it as a warning sign.

Not every trap is outright fraud. A payday loan is a small, short-term loan meant to be repaid on your next payday, but it often carries an extremely high APR, the yearly cost of borrowing. Many borrowers cannot repay on time and take another loan to cover the first, sliding into a cycle of debt.

• A guaranteed prize that asks you to pay a fee first is a red flag.
• A request to pay only in gift cards or wire transfers is a red flag.
• Pressure to act this minute and tell no one is a red flag.
• When unsure, slow down, hang up, and check with someone you trust.