Fraudsters use every method to attract your interest and scam their way into your pocketbook.  The second mortgage scam is fairly simple, but if you fall prey to it, you stand to lose plenty.  How the scam works – you open up your email, and see a spam email offering you an overly enticing and entirely too good to be true deal to receive a second mortgage.  You think to yourself, with finances being tight right now a little extra cash would be helpful.  Than the thought occurs to you that it might be a scam, and than you think that with the lending industry crunch and all of the new guidelines and restrictions occurring, that maybe this is a good offer.

The email you received contains a link which will take you to a site to fill out the application.  The application has numerous questions about where you are employed, your home address, and most importantly all personal information.  It is this personal information that the scammer is after.  Now they have you, and all of your information is than sold to identity thieves, and internet marketing agencies.  Of course the fraudulent application is supposedly processed and if by chance you do receive a response letter, it is to notify you that your application was not approved.

How To Protect Yourself

• Anytime you are contacted by them whether by email, phone or mail, verify they are who they say they are.
• Never give personal information of any kind to unknown and unreliable sources.
• Be wary of offers that you can’t pass up; they’re most likely a scam.
• If you are going to use the internet to purchase, or send in applications – verify the source and be certain it is a safe locked site.  The lock will appear in the browser bar at the top right.  On the top left the site address will start with https://.  The ‘s’ added to http:// shows the site is secure.

See other Fraud Busting tips from Teri Gier!

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