National Consumer Protection Week is March 2-8, and the Postal Inspection Service is reminding employees and customers to beware of imposter scams.
Imposters will often pose as a friend, relative or representative of a bank or government agency to defraud people of their personally identifiable information and then use it to steal their money.
“There are many types of imposter scams,” said Eric Shen, inspector in charge of the Inspection Service’s criminal investigations group. “But they all start with messages like ‘I’m in trouble’ or ‘I need’ or ‘You’ve won!’ or ‘I have a great offer for you!’ These scammers lull consumers into a false sense of trust, gain access to privileged information, and then drain financial accounts.”
Here are some tips to thwart imposters:
• Don’t hastily send money to someone making unsolicited investment, lottery or sweepstakes offers.
• Don’t call a number that you haven’t verified, and never click on any links in an unverified email or text. To verify if a text or email is truly from your bank, call the bank at the number you were given when you opened your account.
• Grandparents should call their grandchildren before sending money to rescue them from an allegedly desperate situation.
• If involved in a potential online romance, beware if the other person asks you to send money for travel expenses to come meet you right away.
• Add your phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry by calling 888-382-1222 or emailing donotcall.gov.
The Inspection Service is also reminding employees and customers that USPS never sends unsolicited texts or emails.
Any message claiming that a customer has a package delivery problem is a scam intended to steal personally identifiable information.
Recipients of such messages should forward them to spam@uspis.gov, then delete them.
The Postal Service offers USPS Informed Delivery, a free service that allows customers to preview their incoming mail and packages. Customers can register online.
Victims of an imposter scam can submit an online report to the Inspection Service or call 877-876-2455.
