Kiwanians Learn about Scam Protection

Officer Brennan Warren from the Midland Police Department gave us a very informative and use presentation about scam protection.

Popular scams include

• Silent call - you answer a phone call from an unknown number but nobody talks on the other end.  Scammer is probing for potential victims.

• Romance sites - scammer poses as someone with romantic interests, eventually asking for money.

• Government impersonation - scammer poses as IRS or police, threatening you with fines or jail if you don’t follow their instructions.

• Phishing - emails posing as shipping companies or other businesses asking you to click on a link.

• Secret shopper - scammers send you a check, asking you to deposit it to buy gift cards.

• Medicare site - scammers pose as Medicare providers and ask you to supply your Medicare number.

• Facebook marketplace - scammers hack into Facebook accounts and pretend to offer great deals, asking for deposits.

Officer Warren offered several tips to help us recognize and guard against becoming victims of these scams.  Some of these include:

• Beware of any demand or offer that asks you to pay with Bitcoin, gift cards, or money orders.

• Don’t answer calls from phone numbers you don’t recognize.  Legitimate callers will leave a message if they need to reach you.  Use your carrier’s system to delete these calls and report junk.

• Don’t click on links in texts or emails until you’re sure that the sender is legitimate.  Check the actual email address of the sender (not the common name associated with the email address) to confirm the sender is legitimate.