Articles: Scams

Dear Consumer Ed:  I posted an item for sale online and received an email from an interested buyer, saying he wanted to send me a certified check. He said the check will cover the cost of the item plus the expense incurred by the person who will pick up the item on his behalf. I am being asked to deposit the check and then wire a portion to the person picking up the item. Do you think this is a scam?

Dear Consumer Ed:  My regular work hours have been cut back, so I’ve been looking for a work-from-home job to supplement my income. I see work-from-home jobs advertised online, but my friend says most of them are scams. How can I tell if a job posting is legitimate or not? 

Dear Consumer Ed:  I see stores charging exorbitant prices for groceries, toilet paper and hand sanitizer.  One store I went to is charging $11 for six rolls of toilet paper and $6 a pound for ground beef. Isn’t this price gouging?  

Dear Consumer Ed:  Since the front of my personal checks show my bank’s routing number and my bank account number, what’s to stop someone from using that information to have their bills paid through an automatic draft from my account?

Dear Consumer Ed:  I have frozen my credit with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to help reduce my risk of identity theft. I just heard that I could be at risk of cell phone fraud because there is another credit reporting agency that keeps data on telecommunications and utilities accounts.

Dear Consumer Ed:  After filling out a feedback form about a fast food restaurant, I received a call saying that I had won a contest. I was asked to provide a faxed form, signed and notarized, along with my Social Security number for tax purposes. Does that sound legitimate?

Dear Consumer Ed:  This supposed lending club is offering to loan me $5,000, but they say that since my credit isn’t great, they need to verify my intention to pay by a means I find suspicious.

Dear Consumer Ed:  I own a timeshare in Mexico. A company in Georgia said they could help me sell it for a fee. I’m a little leery about this. How do I know it’s not a scam?  

Dear Consumer Ed:  After taking an online survey, I received an offer for a mystery shopper job.  I completed a brief online training and I was sent a check for $1,300 to start work.  The first job was to evaluate a wire transfer service by sending a $1,000 money transfer and then answering some

Dear Consumer Ed:  My roof was damaged during a recent storm.  A roofer came to my door and, after looking at my roof, offered to replace it for $20,000. He said the company would pay my insurance deductible if I agreed to let them put a sign in my yard with their company name on it.