Internet and Telemarketing Fraud

Internet and telemarketing fraud occurs every day and costs the residents of the United States over 500 million dollars a year.  The Watsonville Police Department investigates internet and telemarketing fraud, but the solvability rate for these types of crimes is very low.  The best defense against being a victim of these types of crimes is to become aware of the different types of frauds that are occurring in our community.

Telemarketing Fraud – When you send money to people you do not know personally or give personal or financial information to unknown callers, you increase your chances of becoming a victim of telemarketing fraud.

Identity Theft – Identity theft occurs when someone assumes your identity to perform a fraud.  The common sources of identity theft are stealing a wallet or purse.  The suspect steals the information by going through your trash or stealing mail that is placed in your mailbox.

A Family Member in Distress – The potential victim receives a phone call, e-mail or letter from a family member claiming that they have been arrested or have lost all their money while visiting a foreign country.  The victim is asked to wire money to the foreign country to help out the distressed family member.  Before wiring any money you need to check with family and friends about the legitimacy for the plea of help.

There are many other types of fraud that happen every day.  Protect your money and protect yourself by becoming educated in the different schemes that are being used.  There are several government web sites that have valuable information, Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov), Federal Bureau of Investigation (www.fbi.gov/scams), and your local police agencies.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2012 at 9:54 am and is filed under City of Watsonville, Homepage News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.