While we are in the midst of Consumer Protection Week, Postmarks is going to help you keep the clowns from getting your money.
1. Beware of free trial offers. Companies that offer them often will require that you submit bank account or credit card information in order to receive the free product, subscription, or service, and then will proceed to take money from your accounts on a monthly basis without your explicit permission.
2, The odds are pretty good that are that you are not going to win a lottery or sweepstakes, especially one that you didn't enter in the first place.
3. You are not going to inherit money from a rich person that you don't already know. Nor are you going to be asked to be the distributor of their wealth.
4. You can't work from home and earn a living unless you're a really successful writer or you have spent a lot of money, sweat equity, and years developing your own business. There really is no such thing as easy money.
5. Don't wire funds via Western Union, Moneygram, or any other wire service unless it's to a friend or family member. Once that money is gone, there is no way for you to get it back.
6. Safeguard your financial information. Give it out carefully, in transactions that you initiate.
Shred bills ad documents that you are not keeping filed in a secure location.
7. Safeguard your computer. Keep your virus and firewall protection up to date, learn how to make secure passwords that can't easily be guessed, don't use the same password all of the time, and change your passwords on a regular basis.
8. Carefully go over your bank and credit card statements and report suspicious activity as soon as possible.
9. Research everything. Many savvy people have been duped by scams that appear real. It always helps to go to google and under the search bar, type in whatever you're considering along with the word scam to see what comes up. There's also the Better Business Bureau, Snopes, and many other sites that can help you.
10. In order to keep from being solicited in the first place, you can register your landline phone or cell phone with the Do Not Call Registry online at www.donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222.
More information to follow as the week progresses.
To read the Consumer.gov article about the top ten scams of 2009, click here.
