Since there are reports that the United States Government will possibly be sending money by check or direct deposit to American citizens "shortly," the FTC has made a list of three important tips to keep in mind.
The details are still being worked out, but there are a few really important things to know:
- The government will not ask you to pay anything up front to get this money. No fees. No charges. No nothing.
- The government will not call to ask for your Social Security number, bank account, or credit card number. Anyone who does is a scammer.
- These reports of checks aren’t yet a reality. Anyone who tells you they can get you the money now is a scammer.
Predict that the scammers are gearing up to take advantage of this. So, remember: no matter what this payment winds up being, only scammers will ask you to pay to get it. If you spot one of these scams, please tell the Federal Trade Commission: www.ftc.gov/complaint.
The FTC encourages you to keep up to date with the latest Coronavirus-related scams at www.ftc.gov/coronavirus or by signing up to get these consumer alerts.
Additional Information:
If you, or someone in your department, receives a message like this, please right click on the message. Find the "junk" option. Then, Block Sender. This will flag the message with Microsoft 365 Advanced Threat Protection and help block the email addresses associated with the "first.last.unco@gmail.com" extensions that are being sent to UNC's campus. Finally, delete the message.
If you are a victim of a scam like this, you should:
- Cease communication with the person, and contact the UNC Police Department at 970-351-2245.
- Open a support ticket with the Technical Support Center.
- Report the incident on the Stop Fraud Colorado site, and visit FraudSupport.org to go through the report, recover and reinforce process.
