By Sarah Armijo La County – Financial scams have reemerged across the county. Three scams in particular have been causing commotion after scamming innocent members of the community. Make sure to be aware of the “secret shopper scam”, the “granny scam”, and the “phishing scam” to prevent from being a victim. The secret shopper scam draws people in by providing what appears to be legitimate payment for services with instructions to deposit the check and act as a secret shopper at a money wiring business, such as Western Union, Money Gram, and others. The “secret shopper” then wires a significant portion of the check they received to the scammers and later, the victim discovers the check was fraudulent and the bank has charged their account to cover the funds. By the time the fraud is discovered, the receiving account has been closed and all of the contact information provided was false, making these crimes very difficult to investigate. Local police departments urge residents to protect themselves by utilizing the following information and prevention tips: • Mystery shoppers set up through legitimate companies generally do not provide any form of payment up front. • Do not deposit checks and then spend and/or wire transfer money received from someone you don’t know. • Verify the validity of the offer by researching the alleged company and any reviews that may be available on the internet. • Report possible fraud to your local law enforcement officials. Similar to the secret shopper scam, the granny scam involves wiring money to a scammer. However, this scam only targets elderly individuals. The granny scam takes place when a caller pretends to be the victim’s grandchild who needs money because he/she has been arrested, in a car accident, at the hospital, or has another emergency that requires wiring him/her cash. Usually the callers ask for the money to be wired to Canada or another country; but victims have been directed to send the money to other U.S. locations as well. The caller can also have a third party pose on the phone as a friend or a lawyer who is assisting the grandchild. In other cases, the caller already knows the grandchild’s name, helping to convince the unsuspecting grandparent that this is real. The imposter gets these names through obituaries, information posted on the Internet through social networking, public information and genealogy sites. If someone asks you to wire money, please read the following tips before you take action: • Hang up and call your family members to confirm your grandchild’s location. • Tell the caller you will return the call and call them directly at his or her home, cell phone, jail, or hospital that they are claiming to be at. • Family members can also develop a password to verify themselves to one another over the phone. • Never provide any of your banking or credit card information. • Never Wire Money! The third scam that has reemerged is the phishing scam, where the caller attempts to fraudulently acquire personal information. Although the circumstances vary from case to case, typical phishing scams involve a misrepresentation of a company via phone or email where the caller/sender attempts to obtain information, which is then used to commit some form of fraud. For example, the Chino Police Department was recently exposed to a phishing scam when a resident received a call from a scammer who was posing as a City employee and inquired about the residents’ electric bill. Most cases lead law enforcement to untraceable or out of the county phone lines and internet service providers, making these types of crimes very difficult to investigate. If found in a phishing scam situation, residents are urged to protect themselves by utilizing the following prevention tips: • Verify the identity of the person by asking specific questions such as their name, title, and the name, phone number, and address of the company they are representing. • Don’t hesitate to question the validity of the information provided by the caller. • Ask if you can call them back after you verify their employment with the alleged company they are representing. • If you receive a solicitation for information via email, remember that legitimate companies will not inquire about personal information such as account numbers, passwords, social security numbers, etc. If you experience any of these scams, you are urged to inform your local Police Department immediately.