We get many calls and emails from you telling us about scams. And some of you want to know, where should I report the scam?
According to stats from the U.S. Justice Department, scammers are going to target you in one of three ways:
- 56 percent of the time it involves e-mail or the internet -- most of the time it's e-mail.
- 29 percent of the time it's through the phone.
- 15 percent of the time it's though the mail.
So, let's look at the ways to report attempted scams for each category - starting with the internet.
Several years ago, the FBI and a few other federal agencies formed the Internet Crime Complaint Center. It's known as IC3.
If you receive an e-mail scam, you can forward it to them through their website, IC3.gov.
Reporting a phone scam is a little more difficult.
Most of the time phone scams are reported to the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov, especially if it's a telemarketing scam.
If your phone number is on the Do Not Call list and you're getting calls, you should report that to DoNotCall.gov.
U.S. Mail scams
Scams through the U.S. mail should be reported to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Recently, News 8 reported on an investigation conducted by postal inspectors based in Harrisburg. It resulted in a $100 million penalty against the Moneygram wire transfer service. All of that money will be returned to victims.
Mail fraud is a very serious crime and the postal inspectors here in the Susquehanna Valley take their job very seriously.
One final note - if you actually lose money in any kind of scam, you should contact your local police department.
Here are all of the links mentioned above:
Report Internet Scams
Report Phone Scams
Report Mail Scams