Tips on How to Avoid Being Scammed
ROBERTS: Twenty-one minutes now after the hour. That means it's time for "Minding Your Business."</s>CHETRY: That's right. We have Christine Romans with us. And we've been talking a lot about things to look out for, don't become a victim of scams. And there's a lot more scams out there.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And they're recession-specific scams. Look, whenever there are people who are suffering and whenever there is government money out there, there are hucksters who are trying to figure out how to get it from you. And we've seen a lot of these. The Councils for the Better Business Bureau say that more than a million people, 1.3 million people have been suckered into these fake check scams. They're prolific. Let me go through for you some of the things that are happening. Look, otherwise, reasonable people are falling victim to these things. You might think you're too smart. OK, you're too smart. Talk to your elderly grandparents, your parents, talk to your college kids, your teenagers. Make sure that they know that this should not happen to them and that these are scams. First, government grants. All this stimulus money out there. These companies that have popped up to say, look, for $199, I'll send you this package to help you get a government grant to help pay your bills. It's your personal bailout. Wrong. There is not government cash for you to pay your bills. Stimulus money is not available to you, if you pay somebody else money to get it. Job hunters. You do not need to pay anyone to get you a job, to pay for the credit background checks, to pay for a list of job openings, pay a fee and get a job. That's not what they're trying to do. They're trying to get access to your bank account, your social security number, probably to steal your identity. Be very careful about paying someone to get you a job, especially someone you don't know, you've never met. Mortgage help. These foreclosure rescues are rampant. Anywhere there's the foreclosure crisis. There are people with very convincing pitches often that look just like a real document from your bank, saying, you pay us, we're going to save you. We're going to help you avoid foreclosure. It's just not going to happen. You're being suckered. Also, this mystery shopping. I can't believe this, but this is actually happening out there. There are companies that are trying to woo you either online or through a phone call or through a letter. They're saying we need mystery shoppers. We need people to go under cover. We're going to give you this check. You're going to go to these stores. Here's a list and we want you to rate the customer service at these places. And you're going to be an employee for us and it's part of our way of, you know, of rating these companies. At the end, we want you to rate this money transferring business. And so send us some money back. And, you know, all of this is about getting money back that isn't there in the first place and getting your hard-earned money out of your bank account. So it's called being a secret shopper. Don't fall for it. Don't fall for this work at home secret shopper thing. Never pay for government info. You don't have to pay your potential employer for you to get the job. Don't be fooled if somebody gives you a follow up phone call. Verify all businesses with the Better Business Bureau and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.</s>CHETRY: Good advice. You have to keep in mind because people are looking for, you know, any options that they can have in these tough times.</s>ROMANS: People who otherwise wouldn't have done it are doing it because they are desperate. So just remember, you know, there's no such thing as free money and hucksters are everywhere.</s>ROBERTS: Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning.</s>ROMANS: Sure.</s>ROBERTS: And watching out for you, Christine, thanks. More and more kids are getting vaccines these days. Who is? Who isn't? We've got an a.m. house call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta coming up in about 20 minutes time. It's now 24 minutes after the hour.