By Tyler Russell

Your Better Business Bureau Northwest and Pacific wants you to be safe navigating the world when your money and personal information are involved. Scams popping up in your backyard are a fact of life, but we don’t have to be happy about it, and we can do something about it. Let’s dive deep into a snapshot of how the Tri-Cities were affected by scams in 2019.

Since

December 2018, there have been 31 scams reported to Better Business Bureau

Northwest and Pacific’s Scam Tracker. The program, which started in 2015,

allows consumers and businesses to report scams big and small online with the

information being shared with law enforcement agencies and other BBB’s around

the country. In my role as a marketplace manager, I use the program every day

and it takes five minutes to submit a report that could save your friends,

family and neighbors time and money in the long run.

The

amount of money lost in the Tri-Cities area was more than $138,000. Scam

artists are targeting consumers of all demographics and a large geographic

territory, and they’re getting their hands on a lot of money. The most reported

scams were online purchases, phishing and tech support.

A

consumer in Kennewick made two separate purchases with a company that we had

been tracking across the country called Amelia Cotton Quilt Co. The company

promised high quality quilts at low prices. She tried to contact the company

and get a refund from PayPal for the $120 that she had spent — both to no

avail. The company sent a fake tracking number for the quilts she ordered and

never received.

Tri-Citians

reported falling victim to several online retail scams. These scams primarily

dupe consumers into buying a phony product or service from a fake website or

company. The landscape of online scams is evolving. Better Business Bureaus

across the country are seeing more fake advertisements on social media –

hackers can create ads for Facebook and Instagram that appear legitimate and

entice consumers with trendy or highly discounted items. These phony social

media ads look real, but when the order is placed, the product never comes.

Scammers

like to use several different means to collect your personal information. A

report from West Richland had an imposter posing as a member of the sheriff’s

office saying they had a warrant out for their arrest. They requested the

individual put $5,000 on a preloaded credit card and send it to take care of

the warrant. The scammers had the victim’s personal information and used fear

to get them to respond.

Phishing

scams also were reported several times throughout the Tri-Cities. Phishing is

any type of scam where a con artist calls or emails a consumer in hopes of

attaining personally identifiable information. They are quite literally

“fishing” for data by emailing or calling thousands of consumers and seeing who

bites.

The

amount of technology that we use every day makes us very vulnerable to tech

support scams.

A

Finley resident reported this tech support scam: “They claimed people were

using my address resulting in my personal information getting out. They had

three plans: One-year plan, $179, three-year plan, $279, permanent plan, $500.

I purchased one-year plan. The next day I requested a refund per their policy,

and the only way they would give me my money back was if I logged into my bank

account and hit accept money when they refunded. When I would not do it, they

wanted to give me $1,748 and said all I needed to do was to go get a gift card

for $500 for them, and I could keep the rest of the money. He then told me he

would lock up my computer if I didn’t go get the gift card. Again, I said no,

and he hung up on me. I immediately contacted my bank and told them the story.”

Pop-up

ads are common on computers or cellphones with scammers claiming to be from

Microsoft. They say that your computer has been infected with a virus and to

call the number listed. Or, maybe you received a voicemail from Apple claiming

someone has hacked into your account and you need to call back with your credit

card credentials to verify your identification. These all have one thing in

common: they are tech support scams in which con artists pretend to work for

known companies.

The

BBB wants consumers to be able to identify the red flags for any of these

scams, many of which overlap.

Start

with these tips, which can be applied a wide variety of scams alike:

•

Always verify where an email or social media message is coming from. If you’re

not sure the person or company on the other end is legitimate, call the person

or company directly using a number you already know is real.

•

If you think your computer might have a virus, call Microsoft or Apple

directly. Never call a number at the bottom of a pop-up ad.

•

Whenever a company sends you a check and asks for some of money to be wired

back, whether it is for employment or not, realize these are fraudulent. Get

rid of the check and report the person or organization it came from.

•

When shopping online, always doublecheck the URL of the website you’re on. Look

for the “s” in “https://” as this indicates the website is secure and the data

is encrypted.

•

When shopping online, use a credit card whenever you can as banks provide

liability protection on credit cards, not debit cards.

Make

sure that you do your research and be careful with your personal information.

You can find accredited businesses on our website bbb.org.

If

you or someone you know has been scammed, we want to hear from you. To submit a

ScamTracker Report, go to bbb.org/scamtracker.

Tyler Russell is the marketplace manager for the Better Business Bureau Northwest and Pacific.