In recent days, the Lone Tree Police Department has learned of more and more individuals being susceptible to scams. While senior citizens are normally a target audience for scammers, lately there have been more individuals in their 20s and 30s become victims of online scams and identify theft.
In an effort to help protect you for potential scams, LTPD encourages you to follow these tips:
- Lock mailboxes to limit mail theft.
- Shred all documents with personal identifying information to limit ID theft from dumpster diving
- If you do not know the phone number calling you, do not answer the phone. If it is legitimate they will leave a voicemail.
- Call to verify! Many phone scams will try to pressure you into action (specifically giving information or making a payment) while you are on the phone. Hang up the phone and call to verify. For example, in a grandparent scam where your “grandchild” calls to tell you they need you to bail them out of a Mexican prison, call the grandchild’s home and speak to kid or parents to see if the grandchild is currently in Mexico, not in their bedroom.
- Be wary of callers who try to scare you (You will go to jail if you do not…), or callers who request payment in gift cards or iTunes cards.
- Never give out personal identifying information unless YOU initiated the call and know who you are speaking to.
- NEVER divulge your full social security number over the phone! Banks or creditors will never ask for your full SSN. Instead, they will verify using the last 4 digits.
- Do not keep personal identifying information in your vehicle.
- Do not open suspicious e-mails.
- Ensure you are using a secure site (https as opposed to http) anytime you are paying online or sending personal identifying information.
- Regularly check up with credit monitoring (Transunion, Experian, Equifax) and report any inaccurate entries
- Do not carry your social security card on your person!
For more information on how to protect yourself, click here.