How To Protect Yourself - Scams and Cons Explained

Protecting Your Financial Health

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Learn about scams before they happen. While we cannot offer legal advice we can teach and inform so you know what to watch for. Collection offers may sound valid, but companies want your money and may promise to help. This is your online scam, fraud and con prevention center

On these pages we tell you the truth about settlements scams, debt collector scams, false promises, and how companies later claim "There is no record of that conversation", and how to prevent future frustration

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The FBI says types of public corruption include:

Law Enforcement corruption at the state or local level typically involves the payment of bribes or kickbacks in exchange for official actions or inaction. It also includes any violation of law not necessarily connected to the official duties of law enforcement personnel.

Legislative corruption at the state or local level usually involves payment of bribes or kickbacks in exchange for official action or inaction. These bribes or kickbacks can be received by the legislators themselves, by aides, by staff persons, and/or by outside parties doing business with the government.

Municipal corruption involves illegal activities similar to legislative corruption. Common corruption schemes at a local level include bribes or kickbacks in exchange for: supporting local ordinances, approving local government bond issuance, reducing taxes unlawfully, fraudulently manipulating probate assets, and conspiring with others to rezone property or to influence land-use proposals.

Judicial corruption typically arises out of the corrupt influencing of state or local judges, juries, or court personnel (clerks, bailiffs, probation officials, and other administrative staff). Common corrupt schemes include: payments to judiciary personnel in exchange for dismissal of charges; reduction of charges, bonds, or sentences; waiver of fines; return of forfeitable property; and favorable probation conditions.

Contract corruption usually involves the payment of bribes or kickbacks to local or state officials in exchange for favorable treatment on government contracts. Potential subjects are private contractors, anyone acting on their behalf, and public officials involved in the contracting process (procurement officers, purchasing agents, city councilpersons, and county commissioners).

Regulatory corruption involves payment to local, state, or federal officials in exchange for favorable action or inaction pertaining to identification documents, licensing, and inspection and zoning variances. Unlawful payments are commonly known as bribes and kickbacks.

Prison corruption involves corrections officers taking unlawful payment for acts directly or indirectly related to their job. Common schemes include: smuggling contraband into the facility, granting unlawful privileges, and prematurely releasing inmates.

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Automobile / Car Loan Settlements - how the scam works

Unfortunately this is a pretty nasty scam that can result in reposession and the tow truck driver can't help you. Here is how the scam works.

The finance company that finances your vehicle asks you specific questions to determine a target amount that makes you think you will be caught up and current on your car loan.

You are asked to verify the loan amount, the interest rate, the length of time you financed for (the period), the number of months you already paid, and the amount you paid each month.

The finance company already knows the monthly payment amount to bring you current on your car loan. They threaten, or sound sincere by saying they are doing everything they can to keep from sending out the repo man.

The questions or verification process is just a smoke screen. The collector is trying to determine your state of mind. In the business this is known as the 'eval'. Just ask the collector if they are trying to get your cash and the car so they can sell it again, or if they are really trying to work with you.

Remember that unless you are recording the conversation you have no proof of anything. Auto loan settlements are nasty because you think you need to drive to work in the morning and the repo man is always feared. In reality you know what your payoff is and how far behind you are on your payments.

To protect yourself you might be able to convince the loan company to accept a payment through your bank by online banking. If the loan company or finance company demands payment by Western Union or something similar try to get something in writing.

The scam works because you have a valid contract. If the contract says you are liable for the balance due, even if the car is repossessed, you have a problem. Once the car is detailed and cleaned it is sold again. Selling the same item more than once always results in big profits for the seller.

With that in mind, one person reported being scammed this way: “I was in an auto accident in my new vehicle. I called HSBC to find out if it was possible to get another vehicle through them should current vehicle be salvaged. Within seconds, they approved another loan not explaining the way it really worked. I was then stuck with 2 vehicle payments after the insurance company decided to fix the wrecked vehicle. Payments were over $1,000.00 per month. I contacted HSBC to tell them what a mess we were in and they said we had to face repossession."

The settlement takes place if insurance, warranty work, or other factors dictate that you can pay off the vehicle for less that what you owe on it. Repossession and a straight scam takes place if the finance company gets you to pay immediately and repossesses your car anyway. The court claim scam is where they say you still owe past due fees or something else, citing your answers to the specific questions in paragraph two above.

2010/09/03 · by T. Blake