Crime & Safety
La Grange Park Police: How to Keep Your Money Safe This Season
Avoid paying through gift cards, wiring money and sending cash to fake charities with these tips.
Amy Hebert, Consumer Education Specialist at the FTC, provided some tips in a recent La Grange Park police report on how to keep scammers from cheating you out of money.
Take a look at her tips:
You've got meals to plan and gifts to buy. The last thing you need is to lose money to a scam. Here are three ways to avoid giving your hard-earned money to a scammer this holiday season.
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Submitted by the La Grange Park Police Department.
Know how NOT to pay
Find out what's happening in La Grangefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Is someone asking you to pay with an iTunes or Amazon gift card? Or telling you to wire money through services like Western Union or MoneyGram? Don't do it. Scammers ask you to pay in ways that let them get the money fast - and make it nearly impossible for you to get it back. If you're doing any holiday shopping online, know that credit cards have a lot of fraud protection built in.
Spot imposters
Imposters pretend to be someone you trust to convince you to send money or personal information. They might say you qualified for a free government grant, but you have to pay a fee to get it. Or they might send phishing emailsthat seem to be from your bank asking you to "verify" your credit card or checking account number. Don't buy it. Learn more about spotting imposter scams.
Make sure your money goes to real charities
As a reformed Ebenezer Scrooge shows us year after year, the holidays are an important time to share with people in need. Unfortunately, sometimes charity scammers try to take advantage of your good will. And even when you're dealing with legitimate charities, it's still important to make sure a charity will spend your donation the way you want it to. Always check out a charity before you give.
Want a bonus tip? Sign up for free scam alerts from the FTC at ftc.gov/scams, and read 10 Things You Can Do to Avoid Fraud.
If you spot a scam, report it at ftc.gov/complaint. Your reports help the FTC and other law enforcement investigate scams and bring the people behind them to justice.
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