Consumer Advocate: Watch out for offers on 'unclaimed rewards'

With the holidays coming up, who couldn’t use some free cash? It may sound like a dream come true, but it’s actually a scam that people are reporting to the Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker. Scammers are using the promise of unclaimed rewards to steal credit card information.

Scammers are using mailers, email and social media to contact people about an unclaimed reward with major retailers including Walmart and Target. The “reward” is worth $100 or more, but they say that you have only a few more days to redeem it. They give you a phone number to call for more information, and then it begins.

If you decide to call, the scammer starts asking for personal information to “confirm your identity.” They may ask for your name, address, Social Security number, Medicare number, or other private information. Once your identity is “confirmed,” they ask for your credit card to cover a small fee related to the mailing costs.

The scammer can then use the personal information and credit card number you gave them to make bogus charges at any number of retailers. With your Social Security number or Medicare number in hand, they can go beyond that and dig deeper into your personal business. Meanwhile, your “unclaimed” reward will never arrive because it never existed.

To protect yourself from this scam:

• Ignore unsolicited communication. Be wary of strangers contacting you through phone, letters, emails or social media messages. Reputable businesses will not contact you in this way unless you have given them permission to do so in the past. Ignore until you are absolutely sure.

• Never give your personal information to strangers. If you do not know and trust the person, do not give them any information. If you do not know how your personal information is going to be used and protected, do not give them anything. Protect your full name, phone number, address, ID numbers and banking information carefully. Scammers use this information to steal your identity to scam others or steal your money.

• Report scams to the BBB. If you’ve been a victim already, or if the scammers have tried to contact you with this scam, report it to bbb.org/scamtracker/us. This will help other consumers avoid being victimized by the scam. Reports from consumers, like you, help BBB and other agencies continue to fight scammers and fraudsters.

Unclaimed assets come from money in accounts at financial institutions and companies where there’s been no contact or activity from the account owner in over a year. Most commonly, those are savings and checking accounts, stocks, uncashed dividends, security deposits, and tax refunds.

If you think you have unclaimed assets, visit unclaimed.org for resources to reclaim your money.

Frauds continue to become more professional in collecting and stealing your personal information. Be on high alert in every transaction you make and protect your personal information vigorously. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.