小心这些 最近的诈骗

保护自己, 熟悉流行骗局是很重要的——继续阅读以了解最新情况.

Never share your online banking 用户ID or password. Patelco永远不会联系你并向你要它——其他人也没有理由需要它，从来没有.”

报税季节 诈骗

现在是纳税季节——你的会计师和国税局并不是唯一关注你纳税的人. 骗子也在伺机而动! 这听起来很可怕，但你可以通过了解常见的税务季节骗局来保护自己. 以下是你要寻找的:

网络钓鱼

骗子假装是税务专业人士(或美国国税局)，发送带有链接的电子邮件或短信. Don’t click on links sent by people you don’t know.

If you get a tax email you believe is 欺诈ulent, forward it to phishing@irs.政府.

礼品卡诈骗

礼品卡仍然是骗子偷窃的热门方式，因为它们就像现金一样:一旦有人有了礼品卡的信息, it’s nearly impossible to get back. 诈骗者声称自己是美国国税局(IRS)，试图收取补缴税款或罚款. 他们会让你买礼品卡，然后把卡上的信息据为己有.

挂断电话 举报诈骗 — the IRS will never ask for payment via gift card.

退换诱饵

If criminals have your sensitive personal information, such as Social Security number or tax forms they stole from the mail, they may file a 欺诈ulent return on your behalf. 一旦资金打到你的账户, 骗子会冒充国税局的人打电话给你，要求退还这笔钱. 他们会要求你把钱存入另一个账户，或者把支票寄到一个地址.

If you receive an unexpected tax bill or refund, file a 向联邦贸易委员会投诉，与国税局联系 800.908.4490 和 询问主要的信用机构 to put a “欺诈 alert” on your file.

不诚实的报税人

Unfortunately, there are scam artists posing as tax professionals. They offer to do your taxes, collect a fee upfront, 和 then ghost you. Only hire professionals with a valid license – 点击这里上网查询.

还有一些不诚实的报税员夸大你的纳税申报单，将部分退税收入囊中. 为了获得更高的退款，刑事税务编制人员会不准确地提交您的税收. They will pocket some of the refund for themselves. 如果你正在使用报税员, 一定要仔细检查他们的工作和他们从你的税务申报中收到的金额.

学生贷款诈骗

Americans lost an astounding $5 billion to student loan 欺诈 in 2022.¹ 随着学生们高中毕业并在秋季进入大学，骗子们比以往任何时候都要忙. And if you’re one of the millions of Americans with existing student loans, 注意，骗子也在寻找针对你的救济和再融资.

许多诈骗——无论是新贷款还是减免或合并现有贷款——都涉及预先支付费用. Other scammers pose as organizations simply to steal your personal information.

Here’s four ways to protect yourself from student loan 诈骗:

• 注意收费. 虽然借款费用存在, they are included in the principal of legitimate loans, 和 will come up when you take the loan out. If someone is asking you to pay fees now, 自掏腰包, 为了给你的贷款再融资, 进行新的贷款, 偿还现有贷款, 申请债务减免, 或填写FAFSA表格, 可能是个骗子.


• Don’t give out your Federal 学生 Aid (FSA) ID or password. No one should be asking you for your FSA ID 和 password. You will use it to log in to legitimate 政府ernment websites (like http://studentaid.gov/), but if someone is asking you for it on the phone, 通过文本, 通过电子邮件, 或者亲自去, 你在和一个骗子打交道. Be cautious when revealing other private information.


• 抵制立即采取行动的压力. 大多数学生贷款骗局——以及一般的许多骗局——都有一个共同点:立即采取行动的压力.


• 做好调查. Speaking of being pressured to act immediately, 其中一个原因是骗子不希望你花时间去研究他们的公司或组织的名称. 许多骗子建立了复杂的、看起来很专业的网站和社交媒体档案. But don’t trust a website or social media profile by itself.


• Instead, research any person or business who contacts you. 在一个简单的搜索引擎上搜索他们的名字加上“评论”或“骗局”，就可以知道你是否在和一个合法的组织打交道. 另外, 不要把任何听起来像“教育部合作伙伴”或“流行病补助金”这样的官方语言当作准确的说法.”

The bottom line: if someone reaches out to you about a student loan, or if you see an advertisement on social media, 在提供个人信息或金钱之前，你做过调查和仔细考虑吗.

电子支付 欺诈

Our Patelco members have told us how much they love digital payments (like Venmo, 贝宝, 以及其他流行的平台)，因为这是一种简单而安全的方式，可以向他们认识和信任的人汇款. But because scammers may pose as people or businesses you know, it’s important to protect yourself — 和 your money.

Whether you’ve used digital payments before or are new to it, follow these tips to help you pay it safe.

• Only use digital payments to send money to people you know 和 trust
• Never share your online banking 用户ID or password. Patelco永远不会联系你并向你要它——其他人也没有理由需要它，从来没有.
• Never do a “test” transfer with any third-party payment service. 最近的诈骗是有人假装来自帕特尔科，要求你进行“测试”交易或转账. Patelco will NEVER ask you to do a test transfer, ever.
• Never use digital payment to make utility bill or credit card payments. 骗子可能会伪装成公用事业公司或无线运营商，要求你用数字平台付款. 大多数数字支付平台目前还不能用于支付公用事业或信用卡账单.
• 不要把钱退回给那些“不小心”通过数字支付给你钱的人. 骗子会从被盗的账户中汇款，然后要求收件人把钱寄回来——但寄回来的钱是你的真金白银, while the money that you “accidentally” received is stolen.

If someone reaches out to you 和 says that they sent you money accidentally, tell them to reach out to their bank or credit union to resolve it. 永远不要把钱还给他们.

社交媒体艺术家 诈骗

Fraudsters are increasingly active on social media. 如果你不认识的人在Instagram或其他平台上联系你，并提出付钱给你, the money is probably coming from a stolen financial account, 尤其是当他们要求你将部分付款转回给他们(或另一个人)时。. If the true owner of the stolen account reports the loss, you may be on the hook for the funds deposited into your account, plus whatever amount you send to the scammer, 哪些是不可恢复的. Be wary of Instagram 和 social media 诈骗 like these:

• 艺术家骗局: 一个所谓的艺术家会给你发邮件，说你的一张照片给了他们灵感，他们想要根据你的照片创作艺术. 骗子会声称自己为一位富有的客户工作，他的助手会使用Venmo等支付应用向你付款. 问题? They’ll want you to send them a cut from the client’s payment. 您收到的资金将被窃取-但您发送的钱将从您自己的账户中扣除.
• 网红骗局: With lots of Instagram followers 和 likes, 一些网红账号可能看起来非常受欢迎，但它们只是为了欺骗你. 如果一个账户有引人注目的头像，并推广投资机会或金融服务, it’s probably fake or hijacked by scammers.
• 赞助骗局: Instead of pretending to be an influencer, some 欺诈sters will imitate legitimate br和s in hopes of scamming you. Watch for DMs from fake br和 accounts, offers to pay you for advertisements, 或者报名成为大使的机会——这只是另一种窃取你个人信息或金钱的企图.

假收债人 诈骗

在这种骗局中，骗子威胁采取法律行动，迫使你偿还虚假债务. 2022年末, 联邦贸易委员会(FTC)向这类骗局的受害者返还了100多万美元.

保护自己 from similar 诈骗:

• 了解你的财务状况. Keep records of past 和 current debts, so you won’t get fooled by a fake debt.
• 申请“债务确认信”.“这就要求讨债公司证明他们是在合法地讨债.
• 定期检查你的信用报告，这样你就能了解你所有账户的状态.
• Know your rights, including those covered under the 公平债务催收惯例法.

浪漫 诈骗

It’s easy to fall for a romance scam set up on a dating app or social media. 欺诈者创建一个虚假的个人资料，开始向他们的目标发送甜蜜的信息和大宣言. Once they have your trust 和 affection, the asks begin. They’ll ask for money to come see you (but won’t actually come), 应付意外开支, 或者家里有急事. 你会得到什么回报? 较低的账户余额.

如果你认为自己遇到了一个浪漫骗子，下面是保护自己的方法:

• 立即停止通讯.
• Don’t send money or gifts to anyone you haven’t met in person.
• Do a reverse image search of their profile image using a search engine. Is it a stock image or a photo stolen from somewhere else?
• Never send revealing photos of yourself — these can be used for blackmail.
• Talk to your trusted friends or family about your new love interest. 他们有顾虑吗??

想了解更多关于不同类型的爱情骗局，以及如何识别和避免它们吗? Watch a video with one of our Patelco experts below!