Summary of Understanding and Avoiding Fraud and Scams
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Summary of Understanding and Avoiding Fraud and Scams
Fraud is a never-ending, always-changing crime. Just when you think the law is ahead of it, it takes on a new form. And being an educated, commonsense kind of person doesn’t always exempt you from its reaches, because many scammers know how to find your weak points and exploit them.
The best way to stay ahead of scams is to know how to identify them. The Securities and Exchange Commission, the FBI, and the Federal Trade Commission are doing their parts to keep us safe from scams and frauds. But they can only do so much. This tutorial was a broad but basic introduction to frauds; there are many more out there. Look to the ideas below for more education and protection.
Practical Ideas I Can Start with Today
- Keep handy the following contact information:
- U.S. Secret Service: http://www.secretservice.gov/
- The FBI: www.fbi.gov or http://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field, or (202) 278-2000
- The FTC: ftc.gov/complaint or 1-877-FTC-HELP
- Your state’s attorney general: www.naag.org, or 202-326-6000
- The U.S. Postal Inspection Service: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/, or 1-877-876-2455
- State securities regulators: http://www.nasaa.org/about-us/contact-us/contact-your-regulator/
- National Fraud Information Center: http://www.fraud.org/
- The Internet Crime Complaint Center: http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx
- Investor Alerts and Bulletins: http://www.sec.gov/investor/alerts.shtml
- Get additional information on investment fraud from the Investor Protection Trust, at http://www.investorprotection.org/protect-yourself/
What you have learned
- Pyramid Schemes
- Work-at-Home Scams
- Telemarketing Scams
- Elder Fraud
- Romance Scams
- Cryptocurrency Scams
- Advance-Fee and Money Transfer Schemes
- Investment Scams and Frauds