SPECIAL ALERT! Over the past several years we have attempted to provide suggestions, warnings, cautions, and alerts on possible circumstances that might affect your wellbeing as a Niguel Shores resident. The following represents such an event that will occur this month. February 14 is Valentine’s Day, and we strongly urge you to take the following actions: Acknowledge that special person(s) in your life with a telephone call, text, email, card, flowers, dinner, or even diamonds and a new convertible. OK, you get the message. Happy Valentine’s Day to all.
We’ve talked about earthquakes, fires, home safety, encouragement to participate in CPR, AED, and First Aid Classes, and in general how to BE PREPARED to protect life and limb and family from various emergencies.
Now let’s revisit one that just won’t go away: SCAMS, FRAUDS, IDENTITY THEFT, and any other threats that put your personal safety, finances, and private lives in jeopardy.
One of the most common tactics of securing personal and private information from you is through telephone solicitations.
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, provide ANY information to a caller who asks you for your Social Security number, driver’s license, birth date, address, bank account or investment details. DON’T even answer “yes” to a caller’s question, “Is this Mr. or Mrs. (name)?” without first asking them, “Who’s calling?” We’ve all heard stories about the IRS calls saying you owe back taxes, or the one that says you have won various prizes or money if you will just confirm some personal information so they can send you the winnings.
The list of scams goes on and on and gets greater with creeps that think they can persuade a sucker to bite on their creative approach. And guess what? They are very clever and persuasive in doing so. They pretend to be ticket sellers, bank verifiers, a jury duty manager, doctor’s office staff, police or fire department fund raisers, not to mention Cancer, American Heart Association, Children’s Hospitals and the list goes on.
Certainly you will receive legitimate inquiries over the phone, BUT, before you provide ANY information, make sure you know the caller is legitimate. Ask them questions to verify the nature of the request and even their telephone number so you can call them back to see who answers.
Want to test your “Imposter IQ?” Go to aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork and take the quiz that measures the
ability to spot a liar and the fraud game. More later on how to protect your personal information and identity from being stolen. AND, if you think Valentine’s Day is fake news, don’t bet on it!
—Kent Wellbrock
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