Beware the Field of Schemes

• Don't ever give your bank account, credit card or Social Security number to a stranger.
• Don't ever withdraw cash from your bank account and give it to somebody you don't know.
• Don't ever send money to pay taxes on a prize -- taxes get paid to the IRS.
• Be suspicious if someone asks you to send anything by an overnight delivery service, such as Federal Express or UPS, or via messenger. It could mean a con artist is trying to avoid U.S. postal regulations.
• Don't throw good money after bad -- if you have been victimized and somebody calls and offers to recover the money you lost for a fee, chances are that the reason they know so much about what happened is because they are the thieves who stole your money in the first place.
• Don't ever call a 900 number to find out about some prize you've supposedly won -- it's going to cost you money, probably more money than the prize is worth.
• Don't ever chat on the phone with a stranger because you're lonely or because you think you're so smart nobody will be able to dupe you. Just hang up.
• If something seems too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

Report-a-scam: online help for consumers

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