05/24/07 Dealing With Scams

Dealing with Scams. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. I used to think that scams were a relatively new idea but they have been going on for years. It seems someone is always looking to "take" someone else and oddly enough there seems to be a few folks out there that are ripe for the taking. Personally I don't know how some people can let themselves be conned by some of these seemingly idiotic scams. My email is full of spam trying to get me to "click here" or enter my password. In people defense&I believe they are just good people who can't fathom why someone would want to do them harm. Over the years the scammers have come up with more high tech ways of getting vital information from you. And some aren't so high tech. Recently a fax has been appearing in businesses from an individual claiming to be from the Department of Transportation, Procurement Office and looks as official as a fax can. So I talked with Mike an operator with the Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General about the fax. MIKE: The fax is fraudulent. The Department of Transportation will not ask for financial information or any private information in that manner. The fax says it's from someone named Jason Scarlet. Mike says this is not the first time this kind of scam has come around. MIKE: I don't believe there is a "Jason Scarlet" with the Department of Transportation, that's a made up name. It's actually the second installment of this particular fax that's been sent this year. Earlier this year the exact same letter was forwarded to apparently random businesses. This particular scam is aimed predominately at businesses but there are others sent to individuals like the letter being faxed to farmers and ranchers from someone named Veck Hanz, director of Agricultural Operations in the European Department of Agriculture offering grant money up to 250 million! Wow! Who would be interested&right? Well sorry to burst your bubble&it's not legit either. What I want to know is who sits around all day long thinking of these things? So if you do get a fax, what should you do? MIKE: But if you do receive a fax from Jason Scarlet, you or any of the companies you work with  it is a fraudulent letter, just discard it. Mike told me that the Department of Transportation has received hundreds of complaints about this scam and they are investigating so his advice is to ignore it. That advice is also good for all those get rich quick and male enhancement emails packing into your email. Hit the DELETE button and get on with your day. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.