Every corner you turn everywhere you look
there is a scammer waiting to try and
steal your money or get your information.
They call your phones, they send you emails,
even letters in the mail.
They find a way to do it.
We want to help you keep more
money in your pocket.
That's why we have lashell Yates from the
Better Business Bureau here with us today.
She's taking your questions about
scams about what to lookout for,
how to protect yourself.
Here's how you get her your question.
Remember, the questions are anonymous,
so don't feel bad about asking the question.
You just text us the question.
336-379-5775 and you get your
answer right there on the spot.
All right, so lashell.
First and foremost,
let's tackle some rental scams.
We've had a couple of people in our
area just in the last two weeks.
Call us and say I thought
I was renting a place.
Come to find out I was giving
my money to somebody I didn't
even know and this place is
being rented to somebody else.
Yes, so rental scams have a couple
of the same tactics for all of
these different rental scams.
The listings they're going to look legitimate
and that's because they are scammers,
are taking the same photos and the
same descriptions from real listings,
and that's what they're using
to post the fake listings.
They're also going to ask you
for money up front to even see
the property or for a deposit.
And the first months rent,
and they're going to ask you to fill
out a rental application and losing
money here is not the only danger.
Scammers could steal your identity.
In fact, a local person reported that
after they filled out an application,
the landlord opened a line of credit in
her name with her Social Security number,
and there's a couple different facets
to of what the con man is going to do.
One he's either going to say, hey,
I can't show you the apartment
'cause I'm out of town.
You gotta look in the windows
or he's gonna show up.
Brazenly,
even when there's a real property
management company yard in the sign.
So here's what you have to
do to protect yourself.
One ask questions don't be afraid to
knock on the door and asked the occupant.
If that apartment really is for
rent second call the phone number
if there's a sign in the yard
call that number and say,
Hey does the person who I've been
talking to really work there.
There is a renter here in the triad
who wishes they had done that it
would have saved him $1000.00
and last researched the scammer.
Look up the name of the scammer.
The scammers email address and the
phone number if they are renting
properties outside of the triad.
That is a red flag.
Yeah, because usually they are in one spot.
That is for sure, you know,
it's one of those things where
you know with COVID a lot of
times we thought to ourselves.
Well, it's not that unusual that the person
doesn't want to meet in person right?
To show us the house or to drop
off the stuff or whatever else,
but they can at least do a FaceTime
with you if they're for real.
Oh, absolutely, and they're gonna also
going to be able to give you a drop
box number or the little lock box on
the on the door and give you a key so
that you're going to be able to get in.
But there the continent have
gotten smart there too.
They will actually pretend to be
a renter so that they can get that
number for a day and then have you
go and and get the number yourself.
So there's really there's so
many facets to this,
but you really have to be careful,
so follow a couple of those tips
and I think you can be safe.
I think the other thing too is the wiring
of money that always tips me off as well.
So if you can pay with a credit card
that also would be the better option.
Absolutely pay with a credit card if you can.
OK, let's talk about online purchases.
Speaking of credit cards and you
know us purchasing things with
our credit card online and what
we really need to lookout for.
And how do we protect ourselves?
Well, it turned out that in 2021 online
purchase games were the riskiest scam,
and if they affected everybody from
ages 18 to 65, and the reason is,
even though we're in year
three of the pandemic,
we were spending more time online and
we were doing more online shopping,
and in fact 75% of the people who
encountered an online purchase
scam reported losing money,
and they were offered often
seeing these ads on social media.
The ones that lured them into
losing money and just in case.
People don't know what an
online shopping scam is.
It's when you purchase something and
you don't end up getting the item
that you ordered or you get an item
that is not exactly what you ordered.
So the best way to protect yourself
against an online purchase scam is
check out the website at bbb.org
or go to bbb.org/scam tracker and
put in the name of the website or
the name of the company and see
what people are saying about it.
You can also do the same thing on
Google and here again is another
great instance of what you should
use your credit card.
And then dispute the charge.
In case you don't get the item
or you don't get the item that
you requested and don't let them
drag this out past 60 days.
That's the time that you're
allowed to dispute a charge 'cause
that is one of their tactics.
They'll try to say Oh well,
it's in process,
so it's coming and they try to
get you past your 60 days so
you can't get your money
back. Oh, that's key.
OK, the 60 day time limit.
Now a lot of folks will say I use
my debit card as a credit card,
so shouldn't that be good enough?
Let's talk about that.
Unfortunately, it is not.
Debit cards actually have some
federal protections that allow
you to dispute the charge.
There's actually a whole written out process.
Unfortunately, debit cards do
not have that same protection.
There are no written guarantees
that you can dispute that charge.
It's up to your individual
provider of your debit card.
So use a credit card if you don't have one.
There's lots of people who don't
want to get one these days,
but at least get one.
If it's for nothing else but online shopping,
that is your best protection.
Alright, we already have two texts.
And they both talk about a
specific scam text that they got,
so we're going to talk about that
as soon as we come back from break.
Remember, you can text in your question
and we'll be back in just a few minutes.