Raising Awareness of Scams with…Bingo?
- The coronavirus pandemic creates unprecedented opportunities for fraud
- The need for funds creates a wide target audience
- The FTC hopes to keep fraud awareness high via a BINGO card
In these days of unprecedented events and protocols related to the coronavirus pandemic, it comes as no surprise that fraudsters of all stripes are taking advantage of any and all aspects of the situation.
We've discussed the prospect of millions of government-issued checks suddenly entering the ecosystem and how that will test every anti-fraud measure possible. While direct deposit is the IRS's preferred delivery system, there are a significant amount of "underbanked" households that will need physical checks sent to them.
Preying Upon Households Who Need Funds Immediately
Also, given the volume of checks that have to go out and delivery limitations, it is sadly ironic that the households who need funds the most may be waiting longest. With that in mind, fraudsters will surely target this population with promises of "advance payments" and "gift cards."
On a much broader front, however, the Federal Trade Commission anticipates a surge in fraud across the board that takes advantage of heightened isolation in this social distancing period.- - in fact, Yahoo Finance reports that, so far in 2020, the FTC has seen 7,800 coronavirus complaints. Just a week ago, the agency said, the number was only half that.
Raising Awareness Via Bingo
Appropriately, The FTC has created a Scam BINGO board to increase awareness of the many tactics being used.
Building Awareness and Staying Alert
Before you decide that this is merely a clever visual, the "FTC Scam Bingo Card" is actually a very effective way to keep the threat of fraud and scams front-of-mind for particularly vulnerable populations like senior citizens. Having a physical card handy near the phone, for instance, keeps phone scams front-of-mind for intended victims. Unfortunately, in this environment we need vulnerable populations to have fraud and scams on their radar every time they answer a phone.
You can download a printable BINGO board here.
As the nations of the world work to contain the coronavirus pandemic and associated economic mayhem, the "target population" for scammers grows quickly along with financial uncertainty. It's now more important than ever to not only raise awareness of scams, but to also invest in new, innovation technologies like AI and Deep Learning to keep transactions safe, secure, and reliable on all levels.