Sadly, Idahoans Keep Falling for These 6 Common Scams

When was the last time you encountered a scam? Unfortunately, it probably hasn’t been long! Scammers keep finding creative ways to con you out of your hard-earned money or damage your network. 

Depending on where you work, there’s a good chance that your company has put you through some sort of online security training. While we’re sure that your employer doesn’t want to see you get scammed, they’re probably more worried about you clicking a link that would make the entire company’s network vulnerable. We’re a little too familiar with that and our company will send us fake “phishing e-mails” to see how much we really learned from those trainings. Click a link? They’re signing you up to take the course again.

Get our free mobile app

And scammers aren’t just coming after you by e-mail. They’re coming after you via phone calls, social media and good old-fashioned snail mail too.

Familiarizing yourself with some of the most common scams is one of the best ways to protect yourself and your money. Earlier this year, we shared the ins and outs of the “One Ring Scam.” Whether they call and hang up or leave you a voicemail, they’re hoping you’re curious enough about the missed call to return it. Doing that could mean an ugly surprise on your next phone bill. The scammers use a phone number with a three-digit area code, but they’re usually not American phone numbers. If you call them back, you can rack up some significant per-minute international fees. 

The Boise Police Department has a great scam prevention page where they list some of the most common scams Idahoans and others across the country are likely to fall for. Here’s a look at six of the ways that they say scammers are trying to take advantage of you.