Hey, everyone.
Thank you for joining our Livestream.
There are a number of reported scams related to coronavirus,
and we received a lot of questions
recently about how to spot and avoid them.
So our tip of the week is this.
To protect yourself and your information
from COVID-19 related scams, never
share personal or financial information over phone, texts,
email or social media.
When we talk about COVID-19 scams,
we're referring to coronavirus related fraudulent activity
being committed to steal money or personal information
from people.
According to the Federal Trade Commission,
COVID-19 scams have cost more than 18,000 Americans
a total of $13.44 million since the beginning of the year.
While you can't plan on being the target of an attack,
there are Warning signs that you can look out
for to stay protected.
Here are some common COVID-19 scams and tips
on how you can avoid them.
First, let's look at job postings scams.
Job postings scams were around before the coronavirus.
But as the number of people experiencing job loss
increases, it's even more important to be aware of how
to spot fraudulent postings.
A scam job posting is a solicitation
for a fake employment opportunity.
Many times these fake opportunities
include job descriptions with details
that seem too good to be true.
They may offer salaries outside of the typical range
for the role or offer a high hourly wage for reduced work
hours.
In some cases, you may receive an unprovoked contact
about a job or receive a reply to your application
immediately after submitting your resume online.
An unsolicited contact about a job
is not a red flag on its own but in these scenarios,
the interview process is expedited often
involving one short call or chat message
followed by an immediate job offer.
To help you evaluate the legitimacy of a job posting,
start by reviewing the details like the email address
and the job description.
Getting an email from a suspicious email alias
is one of the most common warning signs
that the job opportunity might be fraudulent.
Be cautious if you receive a reply to a job
application or an unsolicited contact
from an email address that looks similar to a corporate domain
but is slightly off.
A spoof domain is one that visually
imitates a legitimate corporate alias using
lookalike characters.
For example, Indeed alias is Indeed.com with a lower case
i versus a potential spoofed alias
that looks like Indeed.com but is written with a lowercase
l at the beginning.
Another tactic used to create a variation of a corporate email
account that includes the company name followed
by a popular email provider is an example like Indeed@gmail
or @yahoo or @hotmail.com.
It's possible for some businesses and startups
to use Gmail or Yahoo or other public domains
for company communication but consider
taking a moment to check the company website to confirm
that is the case.
Another red flag is if you are asked
to provide sensitive personal information like your driver's
license or social security number during the application
process, this information is not needed at this point in the job
application process.
As a general rule to protect yourself,
never share a bank account, credit card
or sensitive personal information
with a potential employer or anyone else over chat or email.
Lastly, scammers may claim to offer a large payment or reward
in exchange for processing financial transactions
like depositing checks or transferring money.
In this scenario, the company may offer to provide you with
a check to deposit that ultimately cannot be processed.
Another type of scam to be aware of
is related to unemployment insurance.
Unemployment rates are very high at the moment.
There have been improvements in the labor market since June
but there are still 17.8 million people being affected.
COVID-19 unemployment insurance scams
involve fake companies or a state agency impersonator
offering to file and obtain unemployment benefits
on your behalf.
To file the claim, they could ask
for your personal information and require a fee to submit.
If you're seeking or receiving unemployment insurance also
called unemployment benefits, consider visiting CareerOneStop
at careeronestop.org.
That's careeronestop.org.
This is to find your state's unemployment insurance
administrator and follow the instructions
on how to file a claim through the secured process.
When filing a claim through the website,
you'll notice that there are no fees required to file
and they do not ask for credit card
information or other methods of payment
as part of the filing process.
Receiving an unsolicited contact about filing an unemployment
insurance claim is a big red flag.
Legitimate unemployment insurance administrators
should never call you out of the blue
or contact you through social media via private message
to initiate a claim.
Be suspicious of any caller asking
for personal information over the phone
or copies of personal documents in regard
to an unemployment insurance claim.
In a legitimate claim filing process,
you should be asked to upload your documents
to a secured website.
Other reports of coronavirus related scams
include internal revenue service impersonators contacting people
about issues related to stimulus checks, overdue payments,
filing extensions or other tax related topics.
Some people have even reported robocalls offering stock
options with biotech companies developing
a vaccine for COVID-19.
Older Americans remain one of the largest groups targeted
for scams.
They may be targeted for what are commonly referred
to as grandparent scams.
Situations where a caller poses as a relative who desperately
needs money.
In these scenarios, the relative may
ask you to wire money are to buy a gift card
and then hangs up as soon as the card number or money
transfer is received.
If you believe you have received a suspicious call
from a relative, hang up and call the relative back
at their known phone number.
It's best not to take any action until you've
spoken to them directly and clarified the situation.
Well, this is not a full list of all the COVID-19 related
scams being reported, there are a series of shared steps
that you can take to protect yourself
if you've ever been contacted about an opportunity that
seems suspicious.
To avoid scams in general, do not
respond to calls, text messages or emails
from unknown numbers or suspicious addresses.
Never share personal or financial information
over email, text, messages or over the phone.
Do not click any links in a text message from a number
you do not recognize.
If a friend sends you a text with a suspicious link that
seems out of character, call them to make
sure they weren't hacked.
Consider adding your number to the National
Do Not Call Registry at www.donotcall.gov.
This is to prevent telemarketer contacts.
If you think you've ever been the victim
of a coronavirus scam, contact your state consumer protection
office and report it to the federal government.
File a report with local law enforcement
if you've lost money or possessions due to a scam.
So in summary, be aware of job postings
that seem too good to be true.
To verify the legitimacy of a posting or employer contact,
review the email address and company website.
Never share personal information like a driver's license number
or banking information during the interview process.
Unemployment rates have been decreasing
as the job market started seeing improvements in June.
But if you're currently enrolled in
are looking to enroll in an unemployment insurance,
file and monitor your claim through your state
administrators secured or official website.
There are no fees associated with filing
an unemployment claim so be wary of companies or individuals who
offer to file on your behalf for a fee.
For a more detailed list of other scams to be aware of,
check out the career guide article, common COVID-19 scams
and how to avoid them.
All right, thanks again.
And join us next week for another episode.
See you soon.
Bye.