For you information.

[chrisrosenb]

Yesterday I received 3 emails from Capital One stating the a charge to could not be made to my credit cards because the cards were out of date. Each email listed the last 4 digits of a different credit card. The email looks very legit & had links to Amazon & Capitol One to update the information. I knew the emails were fake because I have never used my Capitol One credit cards at Amazon. Plus 2 of the 3 are store specific card that could not be used a Amazon even if I wanted to.

This was a new email scam for me.

 

[pixelated]

It is very easy for the scammers to create legitimate looking emails by referencing a card company's actual graphics. Best practice is to not ever click on any link in such an email legitimate or not.
If whatever the email is about needs to be verified or acted on, you can log into your account using your own stored bookmark or else call them and see what's up.

 

[Packard]

And I get phone calls from the IRS and from Social Security Office (USA).  Neither of which use phone calls for notifications.  They only use US mail. 

The NY Department of Transportation has recently taken to sending notifications out by email and those are legit.

 

[Bob D.]

US Gov agencies seem to be all over the map on this which just adds to the confusion.

SSA is US Mail, never received a legit phone call or SMS from them.
Medicare will text and email me all the time and use US Mail.
Plus the IRS has used the US Mail and email to notify me when they are sending a stimulus check or made a direct deposit.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

Another thing to look out for is fraudulent unemployment application. I live in Illinois and from what I heard as COVID hit they relaxed some checks they make to speed up the process due to the high surge in unemployment. This opened the floodgates for thieves. I was one that was targeted and spent a lot of time filling out forms and checking things to make sure nothing else was attacked. What got me was the unemployment paperwork was sent to an address I haven't lived at for over 30 years - shouldn't that of flagged someone?

 

[RustE]

Another thing to look out for is fraudulent unemployment application.
...
What got me was the unemployment paperwork was sent to an address I haven't lived at for over 30 years - shouldn't that of flagged someone?

Be happy you found out about it. In Ohio we get one or two letters in the mail and the remainder is electronic correspondence. Fraud issues are big here too, such that there are dedicated services to help those affected.

 

[chrisrosenb]

One of my clients is a large farmer. He recently discovered someone had used one of his farms as collateral to get a $98,000 covid loan from the government. He did not receive any notice that someone was doing this.