{"id":763,"date":"2018-09-04T13:28:29","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T13:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fraud.flywheelsites.com\/watchdog_impersonators_alert\/"},"modified":"2020-11-09T07:30:43","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T07:30:43","slug":"watchdog_impersonators_alert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/watchdog_impersonators_alert\/","title":{"rendered":"You won! Not so fast–sweepstakes scammers posing as legitimate watchdog groups"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your phone rings and the caller ID says it’s someone from the National Consumers League. You answer the phone, and one of our friendly staffers informs you that you have won the lottery! All you need to do is pay taxes on the winnings, and you can trust the National Consumers League to help facilitate this process and make sure you get your winnings without any trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the caller is not a volunteer from the National Consumers League, but rather a scammer using our trusted name to cheat you out of your money.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Scammers\u2019 cons are built on the trust they develop with their victims. One way that they do so is by saying that they are affiliated with a respected organization. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the past few months, NCL, along with other well-known interest groups like the <\/span>AARP<\/span><\/a>, have seen an increase in complaints about scammers posing as employees of our organizations in order to trick their victims into believing they have won a sweepstakes, lottery, or some form of a government grant.<\/span><\/p>\n

One consumer from California we spoke with received a call from a fraudster impersonating an employee of NCL. \u201cThe \u2018employee\u2019 informed me that I had won a prize of $915,000 from a sweepstakes company, and that it would be overseen by the National Consumers League to prevent fraud. To claim my prize I just needed to pay a tax of around 1% (more than $9,000) by cashiers check first.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Scammers have been known to impersonate organizations\u2019 employees, draft letters with official-looking letterhead, and spoof victims\u2019 caller ID to make it look like they are receiving a phone call from the real organization\u2019s office.<\/span><\/p>\n

As with any lottery or sweepstakes, you should never be asked to pay in order to receive your prize. If you are asked to pay anything upfront, you are getting scammed. Consumers have been tricked into paying for phony \u201cinsurance,\u201d \u201ctaxes\u201d owed to the IRS or the state treasury, \u201cprocessing fees,\u201d or \u201clawyers\u2019 fees.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The National Consumers League has never and will never be involved in any lottery or sweepstakes. If anyone claiming to be from the National Consumers League contacts you about a prize you have won, they are trying to scam you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To protect yourself from scammers impersonating NCL or any other organization, it is important to remember the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Caller ID is easily spoofed.<\/strong> Scammers are pros at tricking Caller ID systems into showing the caller information they want it to show. Just because the Caller ID says \u201cNational Consumers League\u201d or the \u201cIRS,\u201d does not guarantee that the person on the other end is affiliated with that organization.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Never pay for a prize. <\/strong>If someone informs you that you won a prize, you should not have to pay any taxes, delivery fees, or insurance payments in order to collect it. If they tell you otherwise, it\u2019s a scam.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. When in doubt, ask. <\/strong>If you\u2019re not sure if the caller or sender was real, look up the phone number for the individual or agency in your phonebook or on the agency\u2019s or company\u2019s official website. Call that number yourself and check to see if what you were told by the caller is accurate.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Be careful of email senders who appear to be legit.<\/strong> Scammers can spoof the \u201cfrom\u201d address of emails and have been known to run imposter scams over email. If you receive an email from someone demanding money right away, it\u2019s probably a scam. Instead of replying, simply delete the email. Don\u2019t click on any links or attachments\u2014they could contain malware that will infect your computer and steal your personal information.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. If asked for payment with a wire transfer, cash-reload card, or gift card\u2014it\u2019s a scam. <\/strong>These are all ways that scammers <\/span>love<\/span><\/em> to be paid because it\u2019s very difficult to track.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Report suspected fraud<\/strong>. If you become a victim of an imposter scam or you suspect you have spotted one, report it! You can file a complaint at Fraud.org via our <\/span>secure online complaint form<\/span><\/a>. We\u2019ll share your complaint with our network of more than 90 law enforcement and consumer protection agency partners who can and do put fraudsters behind bars. The Federal Trade Commission also has many great resources on imposter scams available at <\/span>www.ftc.gov\/imposters<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Read our other Fraud Alerts here.<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    You won! Not so fast–sweepstakes scammers posing as legitimate watchdog groups<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2243,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763\/revisions\/2243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}