Q Tip From Fran The TitleMan...Fraud Alert...!!!
I've personally been "attacked" twice in the last 2 weeks. Once with someone calling and saying I had a refund from a medical bill and wanting to verify my personal info and the second time with my credit card. The company called asking me about 2 charges since they were out of the ordinary. Low and behold, someone used my card number for unauthorized charges. You really need to stay alert and question everyone who asks for your personal information!
I'd just like to pass on some important information for consumers and Real Estate Professionals...
We have been hearing quite a lot lately about illegal MONEY MAKING SCHEMES...
It's not unusual in a slumping economy to see the crooks among us come out of the woodwork...similar to the way cockroaches come out in the dark, scavenge for some tidbit, and then run back to their usual hiding places...
Well, the same thing is happening in the HUMAN cockroach world...these bugs with a heart, albeit an uncaring one, are trying to take advantage of the plight of many of us who have fallen into bad times...either through threat of foreclosure, arrearages on bills, cancellation of credit, falling fico scores, loss of employment, rising food prices, etc...
I recently heard, for example, that a typical consumer just like you and me had a considerable sum of money taken from his own bank account(s) after signing/authorizing documentation that promised to help consolidate his debt and lower his monthly payments...
Of course, in days gone buy, schemes like this were handled as MAIL FRAUD, and usually investigated and prosecuted by the FBI or U.S. Mail authorities...BUT...
With the onset of E-MAIL and the speed of the internet, these human cockroaches operate in a state of the art DREAM WORLD...
I'm no fit advisor on how to avoid these type schemes, but today you need to be extra cautious, use a lot of common sense, i.e. if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is and there is no such thing as a free lunch...somewhere, somehow, someone is paying for that 'FREE LUNCH'...
Keep your Social Security number, and your bank account numbers, and other
personal financial information close to the vest, and don't release them unless you're 100% sure it's safe...!!!
So keep your guard up lest it is you that ends up paying for a lot of FREE LUNCHES...!!!
Just another Quick Tip from your local TitleMan...!!!
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