On Tuesday, May 6, Tracy Harness with Alcorn State University Cooperative Extension Program made a presentation at the Magee Public Library titled “Protecting Your Identity”. She is the Area Family and Consumer Science Educator under ASU’s Family/Consumer Science Program.
Serving three other counties besides Simpson Harness teaches on family and child development, nutrition, health and wellness, financial management where protecting your identity falls. She stated identity protection and scamming are both very popular subjects often going hand in hand.
Harness covered several types of scams. She defined the term scam based on her research as “a dishonest or fraudulent scheme that attempts to take your money or your property, anything of value to you.” She offered personal experiences from her life and that of her mother regarding theft of bank information. Both issues were resolved.
Initially scammers will try to gain trust, by taking time and forming a relationship, Harness explained. It could be one person, several individuals or even a company. There are also several ways scammers try to gain information, suggesting phone calls as well as by email.
Harness gave participants a handout with a list of scams and how scammers take advantage. These included Covid 19, telephone, banking, census related fraud, government grants, investment, lottery and sweepstakes, charity, event ticket sales, and pyramid schemes. Most of these have similar red flags to look for when contacted.
Harness said never give out any personal information especially when asked for confirmation; i.e., phone number, Social Security number, and physical address among others. With the internet readily available it is easy for scammers to search and find more information with just a few clicks of the keyboard. She also suggested never using public computers to access your own personal banking accounts, etc. for the same reason.
Some of those who attended shared their own experiences with telephone scamming which is the most popular form. Most said they rarely answer an unrecognizable phone number as more often it is a scam or telemarketer.
Harness also handed out a test of sorts to take home, listing some of the scams discussed and others like phishing and malware with the corresponding examples along with a bookmark to record transactions for budgeting purposes. Harness also suggested pulling one’s credit report at least once a year and review carefully for any discrepancies, correcting any that may be found.
For more information contact Harness by email trharness@alcorn.edu or calling 601-783-5321.
