Speed kills. We learn this before we even put a key into the ignition for the very first time. Speed limit signs show up everywhere on streets and highways. They encourage us to slow down, consider our surroundings and proceed with caution. Speed also kills on the information superhighway. It is the single most obvious indicator of maleficence. If you are contacted by someone either via email, text, messenger or phone call and told you must do something quickly to avoid a disaster, resist the urge to comply. With even just a little time, you can calm down, assess the situation, contact the authorities to confirm a problem even exists and then proceed. A common scam involves a government entity, the IRS for example, contacting a victim, demanding money for a phantom infraction and telling them it must be paid promptly through a gift card or wire transfer. These bad actors threaten their victims with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting. They ask for immediate responses to their questions, which are designed to elicit important account and personal information. The caller, texter or messenger becomes increasingly demanding and insists that you provide the information they request immediately or else. If you remember the two words you learned in your first driver’s ed class – speed kills – you will know it’s time to hit the brakes on this conversation. Hang up. Log out. Do not reply. Block and report the person who contacted you. You are allowed to give yourself a little time to think. Then, contact your bank, your tax preparer, the IRS or whatever entity that was cited in the conversation you just had. Contact them directly and ask about your account status. Report the alarming conversation you just had to the police. Sometimes, your best defense against a sophisticated scammer is just a deep… | Read More »