If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  Everyone has heard it but some of us continue to fall victim to it.  Scams happen regularly and affect everyone in our community, but sadly the elderly are often the most targeted.  Any request to wire money from someone you don't know should set off alarm bells; if that's part of the deal, it's a scam! 

Here are some examples from the Stockton Police Department's Crimes Against Persons/Property Section to help protect you from scams:

• Wire transfers are the No. 1 way thieves steal money from unsuspecting victims in both Internet and telemarketing fraud.  Wire transfers are the most common payment method for each type of fraud and are most connected with Nigerian money offers, fake checks, lotteries and lottery clubs, advance-fee loans and prizes and sweepstakes. 

Nigerian money offers are where con artists, usually from other countries, promise to share a fortune if the victim agrees to transfer the funds into their own account for safekeeping.

• Another fraudulent scam is the telephone or lottery scheme.  The telephone or lottery scheme is where a person requests up-front payment for winning a prize or sweepstake. They first convince you that you won a prize and then try to scam you by requesting the taxes on your winnings.  After you pay the taxes they promise to send you the winning prize money which will never happen. 

• Just as with Internet scams, "phishing" is another problem.

How phishing works: Those who go phishing send e-mails falsely claiming to be a legitimate company or financial institution, in an attempt to deceive the customer into surrendering confidential information. The rationale behind phishing, of course, is embezzlement of money.

Those at the receiving end of phishing get an e-mail directing them to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as credit/debit card number and personal identification number, customer-ID of banks and also Net banking and phone-banking passwords. The Web site, however, is bogus and it is only hosted to steal the customer's information. 

The Stockton Police Department recommends you share these tips with your friends and family so everyone can get protected from scams. 

For more information you can review the below listed links:

Here's where to go to file complaints about an online scam attempt:

FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center –  www.ic3.gov

And here's where you can learn more about phishing scams:

• National Consumer League's Fraud Information Center -
  From www.fraud.org
  
• FTC Consumer Alert on Phishing – From www.ftc.gov (PDF file)

To learn more about these frauds through a fun interactive online quiz, go to www.consumer.gov/ncpw and see whether you or your family is vulnerable to these scams.