E-mail alerts about cell phones are hoax (from the Cleveland Plain Dealer)
Ignore those frantic e-mails warning that your cell phone number is about to be released to telemarketers unless you sign up for the Do Not Call Registry.
They're a hoax.
Telemarketers using autodialers - which means most telemarketers - are already prohibited from calling cell phones.
These e-mail warnings have been around for years but tend to pick up when wireless companies talk about creating a cell phone directory. (Wireless companies have said that if they do go ahead with the idea, they would include only consumers who want to be listed and would give numbers only to individuals, as opposed to publishing a list.)
Adding your cell phone number to the Do Not Call Registry won't keep your number out of a 4-1-1 directory or prevent anyone else who gets your number from calling you. If you'd like to sign up anyway, call 1-888-382-1222 from your cell phone or visit www.donotcall.gov. There is, however, no deadline for doing so.
If you get one of these e- mails from someone you know, hit the reply button and set the sender straight.
Warning to homeowners
The Cleveland Better Business Bureau warns homeowners facing foreclosure to re main cautious about offers of help.
A Chagrin Falls homeowner told the BBB that he received an official-looking notice from Mortgage Assistance Solutions that stated: "Your home will be sold at auction if you do not act now. You must call now to save your home."
The letter said the homeowner might qualify for government money to bail himself out of foreclosure.
When he called, he was assured he had been approved for the "Fresh Start Program" but needed to send a certified check for $1,200 overnight.
He sent the check, the BBB said, but Mortgage Assistance Solutions failed to return his calls. A week before the sheriff's sale, he finally got through to someone at the company who told him he needed to wire an additional $2,445 immediately to save his home - an invitation he refused.
The homeowner called his lender and was able to stop the sale and make a new mortgage payment arrangement.
The BBB says its files show a pattern of similar complaints against the Florida-based Mortgage Assistance Solutions.
Foreclosure lists are public, and homeowners on them may find they are inundated with similar offers.
The BBB advises homeowners facing foreclosure to seek legal advice and to contact their lenders to see if payment arrangements can be made.
The Cuyahoga County Bar Association and the Cleveland Bar Association both offer attorney referral services.
Additionally, homeowners in Cuyahoga County can dial 2-1-1 to reach the county's Foreclosure Prevention Program and other resources.
New phishing e-mails
The Federal Citizen Information Center warns that a scam artist is sending phishing e-mails allegedly from the government information site www.firstgov.gov.
The phony e-mails ask consumers who use Money Access electronic payments to confirm that their accounts have not been used or hacked into.
The information, however, goes to a spoof site and not to the government or the company that controls the payment network. It's relatively easy for scam artists to fake e-mail addresses and mask Web sites.
The best advice, as always, is not to respond to e-mails asking you to enter personal information.
Fake checks
Bill Charske of Richmond Heights writes: "My daughter advertised her car for sale on her MySpace Web site and within hours was contacted by e-mail by an individual who claimed to be in 'the military' stationed overseas in the United Kingdom. He asked a few questions about the car and then told her he was willing to buy the car, sight unseen, at her asking price."
The buyer insisted his agent would give her a check for the price of the car plus $5,500, at which point she was to sign over the title of the car and withdraw $5,500 from her bank account to pay the agent, who would take care of shipping and handling.
Luckily, Charske's name was on the title, and when his daughter came to him for his signature, he recognized the scam and pulled the plug - saving her $5,500 in a fast-growing scam involving fake checks.
These fakes checks used to be exclusively foreign, but now they may appear to be drawn on banks inside the United States. There have even been some very good counterfeit postal money orders. The key to recognizing the scam: The buyer issues a check for more than the agreed-upon amount and asks the seller to wire money back.
Sellers are often tricked because the money appears to have been deposited in their accounts, but counterfeit checks take a while for banks to discover. Once the bank realizes the check's a fake, it removes the money and the seller is left with bounced-check fees and the responsibility for paying for the wire transfer.
Sellers are at risk of being contacted anytime they place for-sale ads online. As Charske points out, parents can't assume their college-age kids know about scams like this one, so please pass the word along.
Ignore those frantic e-mails warning that your cell phone number is about to be released to telemarketers unless you sign up for the Do Not Call Registry.
They're a hoax.
Telemarketers using autodialers - which means most telemarketers - are already prohibited from calling cell phones.
These e-mail warnings have been around for years but tend to pick up when wireless companies talk about creating a cell phone directory. (Wireless companies have said that if they do go ahead with the idea, they would include only consumers who want to be listed and would give numbers only to individuals, as opposed to publishing a list.)
Adding your cell phone number to the Do Not Call Registry won't keep your number out of a 4-1-1 directory or prevent anyone else who gets your number from calling you. If you'd like to sign up anyway, call 1-888-382-1222 from your cell phone or visit www.donotcall.gov. There is, however, no deadline for doing so.
If you get one of these e- mails from someone you know, hit the reply button and set the sender straight.
Warning to homeowners
The Cleveland Better Business Bureau warns homeowners facing foreclosure to re main cautious about offers of help.
A Chagrin Falls homeowner told the BBB that he received an official-looking notice from Mortgage Assistance Solutions that stated: "Your home will be sold at auction if you do not act now. You must call now to save your home."
The letter said the homeowner might qualify for government money to bail himself out of foreclosure.
When he called, he was assured he had been approved for the "Fresh Start Program" but needed to send a certified check for $1,200 overnight.
He sent the check, the BBB said, but Mortgage Assistance Solutions failed to return his calls. A week before the sheriff's sale, he finally got through to someone at the company who told him he needed to wire an additional $2,445 immediately to save his home - an invitation he refused.
The homeowner called his lender and was able to stop the sale and make a new mortgage payment arrangement.
The BBB says its files show a pattern of similar complaints against the Florida-based Mortgage Assistance Solutions.
Foreclosure lists are public, and homeowners on them may find they are inundated with similar offers.
The BBB advises homeowners facing foreclosure to seek legal advice and to contact their lenders to see if payment arrangements can be made.
The Cuyahoga County Bar Association and the Cleveland Bar Association both offer attorney referral services.
Additionally, homeowners in Cuyahoga County can dial 2-1-1 to reach the county's Foreclosure Prevention Program and other resources.
New phishing e-mails
The Federal Citizen Information Center warns that a scam artist is sending phishing e-mails allegedly from the government information site www.firstgov.gov.
The phony e-mails ask consumers who use Money Access electronic payments to confirm that their accounts have not been used or hacked into.
The information, however, goes to a spoof site and not to the government or the company that controls the payment network. It's relatively easy for scam artists to fake e-mail addresses and mask Web sites.
The best advice, as always, is not to respond to e-mails asking you to enter personal information.
Fake checks
Bill Charske of Richmond Heights writes: "My daughter advertised her car for sale on her MySpace Web site and within hours was contacted by e-mail by an individual who claimed to be in 'the military' stationed overseas in the United Kingdom. He asked a few questions about the car and then told her he was willing to buy the car, sight unseen, at her asking price."
The buyer insisted his agent would give her a check for the price of the car plus $5,500, at which point she was to sign over the title of the car and withdraw $5,500 from her bank account to pay the agent, who would take care of shipping and handling.
Luckily, Charske's name was on the title, and when his daughter came to him for his signature, he recognized the scam and pulled the plug - saving her $5,500 in a fast-growing scam involving fake checks.
These fakes checks used to be exclusively foreign, but now they may appear to be drawn on banks inside the United States. There have even been some very good counterfeit postal money orders. The key to recognizing the scam: The buyer issues a check for more than the agreed-upon amount and asks the seller to wire money back.
Sellers are often tricked because the money appears to have been deposited in their accounts, but counterfeit checks take a while for banks to discover. Once the bank realizes the check's a fake, it removes the money and the seller is left with bounced-check fees and the responsibility for paying for the wire transfer.
Sellers are at risk of being contacted anytime they place for-sale ads online. As Charske points out, parents can't assume their college-age kids know about scams like this one, so please pass the word along.
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