If you’re anything like me, I am the ultimate procrastinator when it comes to filing my tax returns. But believe it or not theft in the time of tax returns is a lot more common than you might think and being a procrastinator isn’t best in this situation. Most people don’t know that they’ve been exposed to this type of theft until their tax return is denied. There are criminals out there that attempt to steal identities by filing false returns using your Social Security number. According to the IRS, in 2019, there were about 60,000 fraudulent tax returns filed and those returns were worth millions…….. $345.5 to be precise.  While the IRS was able to prevent about 93% of those, there were still about $24 million worth of returns outstanding. Keep in mind that these statistics are only related to actual tax filings. So how can you protect yourself from scams at tax time? How can it pay to file early?

​Believe it or not, scammers take every opportunity at a time like this to collect our personal information and money. As online shopping and remote work increases, here are the current common Coronavirus scams according to the Federal Trade Commission and what to do about them:
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SCAM 1: Undelivered Goods. Scammers selling goods online claim they have high-demand items in stock. You place an order and never get your shipment. This is more and more common as anyone can set up shop and look like they’re selling legitimate products.
WHAT TO DO: Stick to sites you know and trust. Check out the seller by searching for previous customer reviews.  If you decide to buy, use a credit card to keep record of the transaction and make sure you see ""https" when you check out. If you’re concerned about the pricing of products in your area, contact your state consumer protection officials via www.naag.org .

GUEST BLOGGER: TASHA KILLIAN

February 11th is internet safety day. So let's talk about what we can do! Recently, I received a few text messages from coworkers and my boss asking me if I sent them a text asking for money. I was very confused because the texts they were forwarding to me were from a number in a different state, with my name signed at the end. 

Can you believe it’s that time again? We’re about to participate in another U.S. Census. Below is information from the Federal Trade Commission, in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, about the facts and fiction on how the 2020 Census process works, what information you will — and won’t — be asked for, and some red flags will help you spot and report scams.

GUEST BLOGGER: LIZ VANCE

Identity fraud refers to crime in which a criminal obtains and uses a victim's personal data through fraud or deception and usually for economic gain.​ If you were a victim of identity fraud would you know what to do? I hope you never have to find out, but just in case it happens to one of us one day I’m going to share with you a few of the 10 steps that U.S. News & World Report talked about in a recent article. If you’d like to read about all of the 10 steps you can find the whole article here. Here's what stuck out to me...