Attorney General’s Office Gives Tips to Avoid Scams

January 16, 2025 by Allison Wilson

Anyone can be the target of a scam and the best way to protect yourself is to recognize the signs, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Danielle Murphy, consumer educator for OAG’s Consumer Protection Section, led a virtual lecture through the Geauga County Public Library Jan. 9 on scams that commonly target senior citizens.

“A lot of times, we talk to an older group of 55 years and older. Seniors represent about 15% of the population, but, unfortunately, attract more than 30% of the reported fraud,” Murphy said.

Murphy touched on some common red flags that should cause a person to slow down and consider the interaction. Someone requesting a wire transfer, a prepaid money card, a gift card, cryptocurrency, or asking you to go to a bitcoin machine or to switch to a peer-to-peer payment network like Cashapp are all questionable.

“Right now, what we currently see is the number one form of payment that they seem to like are gift cards,” she said, adding people should also be aware of scammers phishing.

“If a scammer or person asks for any type of personal information, what we call this is phishing, and these scammers are just phishing for as much personal information as they can get from us,” she said.

Another red flag is pressure to act immediately — what Murphy referred to as scare tactic scams, such as calling and pretending to be the Internal Revenue Service and saying the victim will be arrested if they don’t take immediate action.

“Whatever emotion that these scammers can get from us, they’ll take. So any time you’re called out of the blue … and you’re caught off guard — that’s what these scammers want,” Murphy said. “They want to catch you off guard, then they want to scare you, then maybe they’ll even come alongside you and say, ‘Well don’t you worry, I know you’re in trouble, but I’m gonna help you.’”

A scammer may also pull at heartstrings rather than rely on fear, Murphy said, outlining the grandparent scam — a scammer may pretend to be a relative like a grandchild in trouble, begging to not tell their parents.

Murphy also warned about scams with contractors.

“You don’t have to put large sums of money upfront before that work gets started. What our office would suggest is put a third of the money down, so that that contractor can get the materials and all of the equipment needed to start that job, then wait until the job’s halfway through, put another third of the money down, and then we would suggest holding the finalized payment until you are happy with that work and satisfied, and it’s completed,” she said.

Always be careful with contracts as well, she added — if you are buying a vehicle and the salesman says that today only they will take $12,000 off the price, it had better be in writing.

Murphy’s biggest tip was if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The imposter scam, in which a scammer fakes being a trusted authority or entity, is common in Ohio, she said, adding it has also changed over time.

While the typical scam used to involve someone calling claiming to be from the IRS and saying you owed back taxes and would be arrested, that isn’t always the case now.

“Now, what we see is maybe the social security office calls and it may be something that they say, ‘Oh well, we’re putting out new cards. Oh, your card, is it laminated? Well let me get your social security number and I’ll get that right out to you,’” she said. “Or they’ll say you aren’t gonna get your benefits, we’re not gonna submit those benefits to you unless you give us the information we need.”

You also cannot trust your caller ID, Murphy emphasized. Scammers are able to spoof ID and have any phone number they want to appear in place of their own.

Murphy recalled an instance of a woman calling her office about a scam. The woman had received a call with a caller ID from the Columbus Police Department and the person on the other end had pretended to be her grandson in trouble.

“We would suggest (not providing) personal information,” Murphy said. “For instance, if you get a phone call from your financial institution, it says on the caller ID it’s Chase Bank … don’t give them your account number.”

It is okay to tell the person on the other end no and to look up a business’s number and call them back, she said.

In combating the grandparent scam, Murphy suggested setting a code word with close loved ones, such as the given name of an uncle who only goes by a nickname.

Murphy also urged to confirm with family, rather than to just believe the person on the end of the line.

While not widespread, some scammers have been able to use artificial intelligence to mimic the voice of loved ones from video clips available on social media, she said.

Cryptocurrency-related scams have also been on the rise, Murphy said.

“We just want you to be aware that crypto is not government backed or heavily regulated. It has few, if any, legal protections,” she said, encouraging people to be aware of celebrities saying they’re giving away free crypto, anyone asking for security codes or passwords and anyone saying a person is guaranteed to make money.

“I think the biggest tip I wanna tell you about cryptocurrency is just (to) make sure that you really understand what you’re doing and what you’re getting into before actually choosing to purchase cryptocurrency or pay through cryptocurrency,” she said.

With relationship scams, the biggest difference between a scammer and a real person is a scammer will give any excuse to not meet face to face, be it medical bills or a broken down car, and will start asking for money very soon, Murphy said.

Scammers can also easily steal someone’s profile picture and pretend to be them on social media, she added.

If you get a friend request from someone you think you’re already friends with, you should check if you’re already friends with them and should set your account so strangers can’t see what you’re posting, so as to keep your information private.

Murphy advised on how to reduce risk of identity theft.

Shred documents containing personal information such as account numbers or social security numbers, watch out for scams, monitor your credit score and financial information, download antivirus and antispyware, and don’t volunteer your information or carry information such as your social security number, she said.

In terms of tech safety, Murphy recommended not to do banking or shopping on public wifi. Anything that involves personal information such as account numbers or credit cards should be done on a secure, password-protected wifi, she said.

In summary, Murphy advised people to research businesses and charities, relax and don’t give in when you’re pressured to act immediately, report scams and unwanted calls and realize things that sound too good to be true probably are.

Fraud can be reported at ohioattorneygeneral.gov or at ohioprotects.org. Further information about scams can also be found at ohioprotects.org.