• Take your time. Stop to talk to someone you trust before you act. Scammers usually lie to you about urgent and frightening situations in order to steal from you. For example, scammers can claim that your identity has been stolen and that you have to act fast to move your money out of harm’s way, or that one of your loved ones is in danger, to create fear and a sense of false urgency. Often an emphasis on speed is indicative of a scam.

• Never click on links or respond to unexpected texts. Never share personal details or send money or cryptocurrency without verifying the identity and the role of the recipient. Often scammers try to pretend that they’re contacting you on behalf of the government or a business or bank that you know. Remember that government agencies will never issue threats or demands that you pay immediately.

• Interact with banks and government agencies only on their official phone numbers. Some scammers attempt to mask their Caller ID as a government agency or bank. Ignore unsolicited  calls. Never give out your personal information or send money via a payment app or cryptocurrency over the phone. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) will NEVER call you to demand payment.

• Use strong online passwords and verify that any links sent to you by unknown entities, especially those sent via text message, are real. You can verify links by calling organizations using their official phone number and looking closely for misspellings or grammatical errors. Often scammers will pose as government agencies seeking to collect an unpaid balance. Communicating directly with the organization can determine whether the outreach you received is authentic. Block unwanted calls and texts.

Jamie Raskin