The main concern for many Americans, now a day is the constant worry of Identity Theft. With our increase in technology, Identity Theft can start with common and simple tasks we do on a daily basis, such as making a purchase at a supermarket or a department store, pumping gas at a Gas station, whether the customer uses the self-service pump or pays at the counter, or even as simple as having dinner at a restaurant. The majority of Citizens across the world, have accustomed to utilizing a debit/credit card to make a variety of purchases, unfortunately crime in our world, has always existed, since the beginning of time, that is why it is imperative and crucial, to be aware that Identity Theft is a serious crime, that if we do not get educated, we may fall under this trap that scammers want us to drown.
Another factor in Identity Theft, is not only Credit/Debit Cards, the other sensitive information that can be stolen is our social security number. (Insurance Information Institute, 2018) According to 2018 Identity Fraud: “Fraud enters a new era of complexity, in 2017, there were 17.6 million victims of identity fraud, a record high that followed a previous record the year before criminals are engaging in complex identity fraud schemes that are leaving record numbers of victims in their wake. The amount stolen hit $16.8 Billion last year as 30 percent of U.S customers were notified of a data breach last year, an increase of 12 percent from 2016. For the first time, more social security numbers were exposed than credit card numbers.”
The reality is very simple, citizens need to be cautious, when paying bills, and other items, to avoid major financial headaches. Identity Theft also can even lead to getting people involved in a crime, with a stolen identity (Identity Guard, 2017) “Back in December the Des-Moise-based local CBS affiliate reported on the case of Lony Tap Gatwas, a tax preparer, charged with several different criminal counts, including aggravated identity theft. Gatwas falsely listed his and other children’s as dependents on his client’s tax returns, instructing them to lie to federal agents about the dependents when they were audited. Gatwas was found guilty of wire fraud and identity theft in the preparation of false tax returns.”
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Maintaining your taxes in order and up to date is crucial, but we can only rely on professionals who will not steal our identity for fraudulent activity. Most citizens have also seen a major Identity theft crisis, when pumping gas at a gas station. (Steinbuch, 2018) Stienbuch a writer from the New York Post states: “Scammers have been installing tiny devices inside the pumps called Skimmers, which copy customers credit card data. This past weekend, the secret service canvassed the nation in search of the devices-recovering 59 of them at 85 locations.” Also according to Matthew O Neill, the assistant to the special agent in charge of the Criminal Investigated Division, O’Neill states: “But what’s in reality happening is during the that transmission process, a skimmer is acting in between where you put your card in and the point of sale terminal that’s transmitting the data to a financial institution and they’re stealing your payment card numbers.”
The most efficient way in ensuring that your card information is not stolen, is to pay inside the convenience store, located at the gas station, or even paying cash for your gas purchase, both suggestions may avoid a dispute with the bank, and save citizens time, which is just as valuable as money. The government is just as vulnerable to having scam artists, attempting to steal the company’s identity to benefit a criminal. In Florida, FPL the only electric company, in the state of Florida, has also fallen into scam artists, to deceive customers. (Florida Power and Light, 2018)
FPL states: “Phone scammers posing as FPL employees are targeting customers across our 35 county service territory. These scammers are using false phone numbers that could appear on a caller ID to be FPL. They are also using recordings of our customer service phone message to make them sound legitimate, then they threaten to shut off the power unless a payment is made immediately.” FPL agents would not do these types of calls that are threats to citizens, there is a legal and a protocol to follow when a customer does not pay their bill, FPL always sends two bills per month to ensure that the customer has ample time, to pay the bill in the time frame indicated by the utility company, also the last bill send in the month reads the header “This is your final notice before power is shut remotely”, meaning that FPL will not threaten you if you have paid your bill on time, and it is important to note that FPL, will only send the second bill if and only, you have not paid the bill by the indicated date, FPL will not even go to your house and demand a payment, the ways that you can pay your bill scam free, are by visiting www.fpl.com, which for no fee will process your payment from your bank account, within minutes, another way is that you can pay FPL by visiting an AMSCOT store, and also with your authorization FPL, can automatically enrolled the customer into an EZ pay program, which every month deducts the bill from the customers bank account, free of charge.
PL also concludes by stating that this scam of con artists, stealing the utilities of electric service, is affecting the United States. FPL states: “It seems to be affecting utilities across the nation. Scammers are targeting utility customers across the nation with emails that appear to be monthly bills from legitimate utilities. These emails are bogus and may contain malicious spam.” Without a doubt, this is a lot of information to process in one sitting, however government officials, are urging citizens, to be alert on bogus and fraudulent scams, there is a lot at stake here not only our identities being stolen, but also money from hard-working citizens, and also victims of these types of fraud, end up loosing valuable time, due to all the headaches caused by the con-artists. The concept of this information, is to be informed of these issues, that affect our state, nation, and even across the world on a daily basis. Finally, another government agency, led by the states, is also vulnerable to have their identity stolen. The Lottery.
The Lottery for many citizens, is a way of daily and weekly entertainment, people may play a Classic Lotto ticket or a scratch off ticket, however many people have fallen to the scam of Con Artists, especially Senior Citizens. (Kirchheimer, p. 2018) According to AARP, AARP states that Senior Citizens are easily manipulated by these scams, especially seniors with a low source of income. AARP states: “Are you between the ages of 55 and 64? You’re nearly twice as likely to fall for prize promotion schemes compared with other Americans according to the (Federal Trade Comission, 2018) people 65 years and older have almost triple the gotcha rate. The author continues: “It’s become too familiar: you get an email, phone call, or letter saying you’ve won a jackpot, often a foreign lottery. But a caveat: To receive your winnings, you’re told you have to first pay taxes, or fees for insurance or other expenses. It’s usually requested via a wire transfer or Green Dot prepaid money Pak card. You send off the money and guess what? No payout ever arrives.”
The author concludes: “Reported losses from these winnings? More than $1 Billion a year, and you can be sure the figure’s much higher, because most victims particularly older ones are too embarrassed to admit to getting duped by a scam that reigns among the most prevalent.” Identity theft has become a crime, with many webs, and it is significant that citizens become more aware of the signs and red flags of identity theft, identity theft is fraud, and those who participate in this crime will get caught. Another common government agency whose identity is stolen and a major one in the United States, is the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service, what happens with this scam is that citizens may receive a call and in some cases an Email, which threatens to place the person under arrest unless they pay the quota determined by the scammers in the fraudulent transaction.
The IRS has stated a number of times that the IRS will not call anyone via phone, however, some Americans are not informed and eventually fall for this scam, that leaves the victim empty in them bank accounts. The IRS has stated a number of warnings: (Internal Revenue Service, 2018): “ Thousands of people have lost millions of dollars and their personal information to tax scams. Scammers use the regular mail, telephone, or email to set up individuals, businesses, payroll and tax professionals. The IRS doesn’t initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information.” The IRS has also begun a major investigation due to the increase in scam calls and the recent natural disaster of Hurricane Florence the IRS states: “In the wake of Hurricane Florence, the Internal Revenue Service is reminding taxpayers that criminals and scammers try to take advantage of the generosity of taxpayers who want to help victims of major disasters.”
An important factor to also remember regarding the Internal Revenue Service, is that the IRS, is not an app to the latest department store or the latest candy crush game on a smart phone, in other words the IRS is not modern in the advances of technology in any way. The only secure and valid statement from the IRS will arrive to you by your employer, furthermore if the citizen knows that he/she has filed their taxes, legally under state and federal statues, then the citizen should not be concerned nor even bother to answer these bogus and corrupt scams. (Loudenback, 2018) According to this writer from the business insider the IRS prefers “Snail Mail”, the writer states: “The IRS isn’t exactly modern. If it needs to get in touch with a taxpayer, it sends a letter-not an email, not a phone call, and definitely not a message over social media, Especially in cases of tax fraud. So when I got a voicemail admonishing me for supposed issues with the tax return I filed for this year, I knew that this had to be the latest IRS phone scam.
A phone number from Washington D.C, called me and left a voicemail when I didn’t answer.” Loudenback also reveals the message that the scammer left her: “Time sensitive and urgent… we found that there was a fraud and misconduct on your tax which you are hiding from federal government. This needs to be rectified immediately, so please return the call as soon as you receive the message.” Finally, Loudenback concludes her article stating: “The US Department of Justice says the IRS never discusses personal tax issues through unsolicited emails or texts, or over social media. Always be worry if you are contacted by somebody claiming to be from the IRS who says you owe money. If you think you are a victim of identity theft or tax fraud, you should report it to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The IRS also has detailed instructions on what to do if you are a victim of tax fraud.
Taxpayers who receive a fraudulent tax refund should follow IRS guidelines for returning the money.” The IRS also reveals the methods they use if there is a case against a person in their column How the IRS initiates contact, “The IRS initiates most contact with taxpayers through regular mail delivered by the U.S Postal Service. However, there are special circumstances in which the IRS will call or come to a home or a business, such as: When a taxpayer has an overdue tax bill, to secure a delinquent tax return or a delinquent employment tax payment, or to tour a business, for example, as part of an audit or during criminal investigations. Even then, taxpayers will generally first receive a letter or sometimes more than one letter, often called notices, from the IRS in the mail.”
The IRS has a lot of methods in order to claim taxes from people, who either fail to claim or file their taxes on time, however the IRS will not chase you around with a hammer, until you pay your taxes, there is a proper and legal protocol, and that is what scammers do not like, that the IRS is a government agency, and will follow all the necessary protocol to follow up on a person if it is necessary, but the IRS employees are not babysitters, that is why scammers love to steal this agency’s name, because they want to make the IRS look like the devil, when the IRS is doing its job correctly, Of course the IRS does not have to be our best friend, however the IRS is a major government agency that does its job to collect taxes, and even know we do not like to pay taxes, we have to follow the law for own personal benefit, but what we do not have to abide by is the scammers attempting to pose as federal agents, when in reality these may people who refuse to find a legitimate job and want to steal money from hard working Americans, that with a lot of responsibility and sacrifice attend work religiously every day of the week.
Identity theft is a crime that for criminals is like picking a hat at random, unfortunately we never know when they plan to strike, that is why it is important, especially if we accidently misplace our wallet, which contain our most sensitive information , to cancel all of our debit/credit cards, because most stores do not even ask an ID to use a card, and in reality the stores are not required to do so, so that is another perfect opportunity for those criminals who enjoy to prey on their victims. This topic is a topic that is not enjoyable, we rather talk about a trip to Hawaii or dreaming of winning the lottery before this topic, but the more that we are informed of this topic, the better prepared that we will be, whether this can happen to us or one of our loved ones.
