With all the current scams going on, the Bank of Colorado has several informative sheets for people to read so they won’t fall victim to one or more of these scams.
The first is cryptocurrency, which are the little coins being sold. Cryptocurrency is not insured by the government or any government organization. If it is stored online, it does not have the same protection as money deposited in a bank account and if the company has any of your private information and the company ceases to exist, your information is fair game to anyone who can get into those accounts.
The value on these types of accounts is always changing. No one can guarantee that any cryptocurrency will increase in value or hold its current value. People with fraud in mind have several kinds of scams and now they are updating and using cryptocurrency as a target. If you are offered any benefits or told to send money to any account you do not know, you are probably being scammed. Report this to the Sheriff’s Office right away and don’t answer.
Bank of Colorado also had several questions to ask yourself and if you answer yes, you are probably being scammed. Were you asked to send a payment, an overpayment or funds of any kind via a money transfer service, such as MoneyGram, Western Union, etc.? Were you asked to purchase a gift card or a reloadable debit card? Were you asked to send money to claim a lottery or sweepstakes claim?
Were you asked to send money in order to qualify for a loan or credit card? Did you give out your online banking username and/or password to anyone? Were you asked to send money to a relative for an emergency, such as being in jail or hospital? I can remember a couple of years ago, receiving several spam emails about my son being in jail or my sister’s husband being in Mexico and being in jail. I did not respond to any of them. In fact, I emailed them back and said I knew this was a scam and my kids knew I would never bail them out of jail.
If you do receive an email asking for money or help, please make sure you check everything and do not send any money or give anybody personal information or you bank information unless you are very sure of who you are sending it to. Make sure you take as many precautions as you can to protect yourself and your income. There will probably never be a time when we don’t have to worry about being scammed, but if we put up our guard, at least it will not be you being scammed.