Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Credit Scams

I've been getting these phone calls from credit companies trying to recover a huge amount of money from a person with the same name as mine as well as this persons wife named Amanda McDonald.  Well, I can safely say that I am not married or dating a woman named Amanda or any other woman's name for that matter.

Last year I got a call from one of those places that give you money when you give them a check and they hold the check until your next payday.  I never ever go to those places at all.

Also last year I got a call saying I owed $50,000 which I know I don't owe.  I told them that I don't owe them and it's not me and I was stupid enough to give them the last 4 digits of my social security number.

Yesterday I got a call and they said my name and I said yes and then she said Amanda and I said you know what, there is no Amanda McDonald here, there never was and never will be, you got the wrong person.  The lady said thank you and hung up.

Well, about an hour ago I got a phone call saying that I owe money for a Suzuki car.  Uh, I don't think so.  I never learned how to drive and I definitely don't have a drivers license.  I definitely do not have a Suzuki vehicle and if I did they could come and repossess it, but I don't have one so they are SOL.

Thankfully I am a member of LifeLock and I called them up to tell them what happened and they told me that there are a lot of people out there who are trying to scam you out of your money and because of today's economy they can't make money any other way but to try to steal it from other people.  They send me a credit report from all 3 credit bureau's every year and there was nothing on it the last time and the woman from LifeLock said that I should be getting another one in a month and half so if it's not there (the car) then don't worry about it, it's probably a scam.

Don't listen to phone(y) people because they are most likely lying to you to get your money.  They will try to convince you to give them your social security number to verify their claim but you cannot give that number to them.  The only way you should ever give that information out is if you called them.  What you should do is ask them what company they are calling from then look it up on the internet and then call them.  If they don't respond then hang up.  If there is a phone number listed on the caller ID then call the police and give them that number and they can investigate it.  If it says Unknown Caller or Private Caller that is also a way to know that it's fake.  This call I got today said Unknown.  A credit company will have their name and number on your Caller ID.  Don't be fooled into giving away your good name.