President Obama’s stimulus package may turn the economy around someday.
For now, it may be helping con artists get rich. Here's what you need to know to protect your money.
MainStreet hears that rogue phone solicitors are using the phrase "stimulus" and posing as an agency that will lower your credit card rate. All they need is your credit card information. Don't fall for it. Keep your information to yourself.
“We’ve heard that consumers are being told that, because of President Obama’s stimulus, the Better Business Bureau can get them a lower interest rate on their credit cards,” says Allison Southwick, a spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau. Southwick in fact says that her agency is not placing these calls and cannot lower consumer's credit card interest rates.
The Stimulus Stimulates Fraud
Stimulus scams aren’t limited to phone calls. Few outside of Washington, D.C., understand exactly how the stimulus plan works, but debt-laden consumers are looking for help anywhere they can find it.
“Criminals looking for instant credibility can use something like the stimulus package to their advantage,” says Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com, a non-profit that educates consumers. “As you get more debt, you tend to be more open to quick fixes.”
Online threats, exist too. According to the consumer protection site 411-Spyware.com, there's one official-looking scam site, ObamaStimulusProgram.com, that's scamming folks out of as much as $89 per month.
What is a consumer to do?
