Heard on the radio today about a new scam that's going around. Let's just call it the stimulus scam. Here's what's happening: people are getting e-mails from the IRS telling them they are eligible to receive a stimulus check. To claim it they need to click on a link and provide their Social Security number.
You can imagine what happens next, their identity is stolen. This is so unfortunate because there are a lot of people who don't understand how the stimulus package will be executed. In fact, they don't seem to know that it hasn't even been approved yet. Otherwise, the scam could never work.
From what I understand it is working. Please don't fall for such a scam. You should be very careful to never heed any e-mail that asks you for personal information that you will provide by following a link in the message. That is a huge red flag.
If you get such an e-mail you should always contact the company by telephone and ask about it. Or, log into your account to see if the same message is waiting for you within your account. Chances are very good there will be no such message. Neither the government, nor financial institutions send out messages like this.
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