Safeguarding Personal Information
By: WTAJ Staff
Updated: November 3, 2012
HOLLIDAYSBURG- State Police want to remind the public to safeguard their personal information and to be aware of scams.
Be cautious when asked to give out personal information over the phone or internet. Banks will not call customers and request account information such as routing numbers or account numbers.
Criminals often ask for help from unsuspecting citizens to carry out crimes. They will convince a victim that they won a large sum of money and need to send cash in order to recieve their prize. Legitimate organizations giving away prizes will not ask for money in order to recieve a prize.
Lastly, be wary of scams involving online sales. An unsuspecting victim will be offering an item for sale online and be targeted by criminals. The criminal will express interest in buying the item for sale, and sends a check with an amount higher than the selling price. The criminal asks for the victim to send them back the extra money. This results in the citizen cashing a fraudulent check on an account that doesn't exist. It is often months until the bank discovers the bad check, and then seeks payment from the victim to recover their loss. Be suspicous of anyone asking to pay over the amount requested for the sale item.
