The Better Business Bureau is alerting consumers about a new scam involving payday loans and phone calls from phony bill collectors.

Scammers presenting themselves as attorneys for the “Financial Accountability Association” or the “Federal Legislation of Unsecured Loans” accuse the call recipients of defaulting on payday loans and threaten them with lawsuits, arrest and extradition to California unless they make an immediate payment via wire or by providing credit card or bank account numbers.

Especially worrisome is the amount of personal information the scammers already have about their victims. The callers often have the victims’ Social Security numbers, home addresses, employment information, bank account numbers, driver’s license numbers and even names of friends and professional references. Such extensive data indicates the scam may be the result of a data breach.

This particular type of scam is known as “pretexting”. Webster’s defines a pretext as “a false reason or motive put forth to hide the real one; a cover up or a front.”

Take the following steps to avoid becoming a victim of pretexting:

• Never give out or confirm any personal or financial information over the phone unless you’ve initiated the call.
• If the caller accuses you of having an unpaid debt, ask for a written statement to confirm the debt.
• If the caller is threatening or abusive, obtain as much information as you can and call the Federal Trade Commission.
• Contact the Better Business Bureau if you think a pretexter has targeted you.

Click Here To Bookmark It

Hide Sites

The most important time to check out a company on the Better Business Bureau’s website might be when you’re shopping for an ID theft protection service. After all, whichever company you choose, you’re going to have to give them a whole lot of personal and financial information. Unfortunately, there are a whole lot of ID theft companies out there. But, you’ve come to the right place, because I’ve made your life a lot easier by doing a quick BBB check on the 12 most prominent ID theft service companies as identified by the Consumer Federation of America.

Here’s what I found: LifeLock is the only of the 12 companies to receive an A+ ranking by the Better Business Bureau. Five of the others either had no files, or had questionable business practices or consumer complaints that prevented their receiving accreditation.

LifeLock’s BBB report details reveal they’ve had 41 customer complaints in the last 36 months, and they’ve all be resolved to the customers’ satisfaction. LifeLock currently has nearly 1.5 million members, so even if all 41 complaints occurred this year, that would be one complaint out of every 36,500 members.

If you’d like to know more about LifeLock and their services, visit LifeLock.com. If you decide to enroll, use the LifeLock promotion code DEFENSE, and you can get the BBB’s highest ranking ID theft service for only $9 a month, plus receive 30 days of free service.

At the end of the 30-day free period, your credit card will automatically be billed $9 each month, unless you decide to cancel during the 30-day period. You can cancel anytime, though, without penalty by calling 1-800-LIFELOCK. OFfer is for new LifeLock members only.

Click Here To Bookmark It

Hide Sites