People & Places: Scams come in all shapes and sizes these days

Like most people, I got a lot of great advice from my parents.

One piece of advice I got from both my mom and dad was this:

“If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.”

When it comes to getting scammed, it’s great advice, but you have to give yourself time to digest what you’re being told. After that, you can decide whether the deal you’re being offered is true.

Spoiler alert: It’s almost always not true, but what if the scam is a threat? Not someone promising a great deal. Instead, it’s “Pay this money or you’ll be in big trouble.”

A few weeks, ago my wife got some mail that got me thinking about that very thing. The mail was a routine letter from the feds. Nothing to be worried about, but my wife is a worrier, so she immediately opened the envelope. On the back of the envelope was this message:

“!SCAM ALERT!”

In big letters. Weirdly, it didn’t catch her attention, but it sure got mine. Underneath those giant letters was this message:

“Scammers are pretending to be government employees. They may threaten you and may demand immediate payment to avoid arrest of other legal action. Do not be fooled!”

Then there was this advice:

“If you receive a suspicious call:

1: Hang up!

2: Do not give them money or personal information!

3. Report the scam (insert web address here)"

That’s all good advice, for sure. And yeah, it’s a drag that we’ve gotten to this point, but it is what it is.

At home, we don’t pick up the phone unless it’s a phone number we recognize. We don’t even get to the point where we have to hang up.

Not everyone can do that, so hanging up is a great move if you don’t trust the person on the other line.

Don’t worry about ending that call. It’s not like in the movies. They won’t call back. They probably won’t start following you around town. It’s nothing personal for them.

Scammers cast a wide net and hope they catch someone. They’re not like Capt. Ahab, searching for the White Whale. Any whale will do for them, even a minnow would be fine.

If you make sure to follow Rule No. 1 and do not talk to the scammer, you should be alright.

If you somehow get roped in and said scam artist starts asking for information, no worries. You can still just hang up, and you should. Don’t even hesitate.

Email and text scams are a little different, but your actions should still be the same.

Don’t respond. This is even easier than phone calls. Again, Hollywood might have us believe that scammers will get at us no matter what, but it’s very unlikely that will happen.

Email and text scams have one thing in common: scammers aren’t sending out threats one at a time. They’re sending out their threats in batches, dozens if not hundreds of people will get the same text or email you got.

Something important to remember: Government agencies (and companies) do not send out important notices like cut-offs or similar things by email or text. They need a paper trail, so they send official communications by mail. You might be able to call or email in response, but that first contact from them will mostly be by mail, if it’s real.

These text/email scams are even worse than other scams because they play on our fear. When we get afraid, we act without thinking. When we have a problem, it’s human nature to want to take care of it, right?

So if you get a scam call, email or text, it’s important to take a moment and clear your head. Stop. Think about it for a few minutes, then check on the problem.

Yeah, it’s not what we naturally do, but it is the best thing. Stop. Take a breath.

Remember the parental advice but flip it:

“If it sounds too bad to be true, then it probably is.”