BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — “It’s not a question of if it's going to happen, it's when, unfortunately. If you have a social media profile or presence, you will get preyed upon at some point. You will get approached," Jason Meza, a Regional Director with the Better Business Bureau said.
Someone contacts you asking for a donation to help flood victims. It sounds like a group you’ve heard of, it seems real, and you want to help. But how can you be sure it is a legitimate organization?
While speaking with 15 ABC, Meza said that there is one big red flag to watch for:
“They're usually asking for a gift card purchase, to go to the store, purchase a gift card, give us the number on the back, and that's as good as gone as money in the wind many times,” Meza said.
Meza added that scammers will press you to give your money to them right away.
“Yeah, that's a hallmark. That's usually, it's high pressure. They don't want you to take the time to research, to double-check things. so yeah, they're pretty high pressure," Meza said.
Meza told15 ABC that there has been a spike in scams over the past couple of years.
“But significantly, the past two years in particular, we've noticed just a surge, just a surge of fake cloned imitation, bot-driven traffic and chatter that's being created,” Meza said.
These scams can come to you in many forms: emails, social media posts, crowdfunding platforms, or phone calls. Meza said that identity theft can happen quickly and easily these days.
“Our younger people need to realize data is king now. It's more, they can do more damage with your identification, your personal ID, than the money that's in your wallet right now," Meza said.
Meza told15 ABC that you should never give out your financial or personal information over the phone.
“Something doesn't feel right, maybe a logo looks canted or just doesn't look like it's right. It's best to ignore, delete, and hang up,” Meza said.
