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From AARP The IRS and its criminal investigation division have seen a wave of new schemes that criminals are devising to cheat Americans by using the stimulus checks as a way to gain access to their personal identifying information. “History has shown that criminals take every opportunity to perpetrate a fraud on unsuspecting victims, especially when a group of people is vulnerable or in a state of need,” said Don Fort, chief of the criminal investigation division. “While you are waiting to hear about your economic-impact payment, criminals are working hard to trick you into getting their hands on it. The IRS criminal investigation division is working hard to find these scammers and shut them down, but in the meantime, we ask people to remain vigilant." If you already have a 2018 or 2019 federal tax return on file and are eligible for a stimulus payment under the CARES Act, the IRS will deposit your payment directly into the bank account you listed on your return. Social Security recipients and railroad retirees will automatically receive a $1,200 stimulus payment the same way they receive monthly benefits, even if they didn't file a return for 2018 or 2019. The IRS says it will get the information for those recipients from annual 1099 benefit statements. If you need to provide bank account information, there will be a secure portal set up on IRS.gov by the middle of April that will allow you to do so. If you don't provide your bank account information, a check will be mailed to your address on file, according to the agency. Officials warn Americans not to give banking information to strangers who offer to put that information into the IRS system for them. Here are signs a swindler wants your cash The caller or emailer uses the words “stimulus check” or “stimulus payment.” The term that government officials are using is “economic-impact payment." You're asked to sign your check over to the caller. You receive an email, text or social media message saying that you need to verify your personal and/or banking information to speed up your stimulus payment. The individual offers to get you your payment faster. You receive a fake check, and then the sender tells you to call a number to verify your personal information in order to cash it. Report potential scams If you receive unsolicited information-gathering emails, texts or social media messages that appear to be from the IRS or an organization closely linked to the agency, such as the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, forward them to phishing@irs.gov. Taxpayers are also cautioned not to interact with potential scammers online or over the phone. Learn more about reporting suspected scams by going to the Report Phishing and Online Scams page at IRS.gov. Official IRS information about the COVID-19 pandemic and economic-impact payments can be found on the Coronavirus Tax Relief page at IRS.gov.

This one is a question for the ladies. So let’s say you receive an inquiry from a gentleman that seems polite and innocuous. He shares his TOB references with you and you notice that all of his references were added on the same day. Same thing with his reviews. Also he just joined TOB a week ago. My question is: if he was legit why is all this activity going on within a week. Am I being paranoid?

Please be aware of this scam to hack emails that I just reported and confirmed with Google: Text message from # 949 522-7288 saying that Gmail just received a request to reset your password from another device. In my case it actually said 'will's iphone'. Asks for a Y or N reply if you made the request. When you say N, it says it will send you a verification code which you should copy and paste into this text to proceed. The verification code comes from another number: 22000. This all looks very legit. When you send the code it asks you to reply with your account password. BIG RED FLAG! I immediately changed my password, check my security and recovery settings, checked devices that accessed my account recently, checked my recovery email for notifications because I believed this was a scam, so... I just got off the phone w/ Google and wanted to share this info. That text message was not from Google. It was a scam to collect passwords. Google customer support confirmed that they will NEVER ask for a password via a text message, and they will always email first via your recovery account if someone has tried to hack your account. They only text you when you request it, and their texts would come from an 800 number. NEVER share your email password with anyone. Google and other email providers will NEVER ask you to. I know of one provider who has already fallen for this scam. I am naturally skeptical b/c I worked in technology most of my life. These are crazy times. Be aware and stay safe!

I did a quick search on the forum and did not see any recent thread about this, so here goes. I think it would be helpful for us to have a discussion on why people post fake advertisements on BP escort listing. I am not talking about the ones were the pictures are not of the person you end up seeing. Bait and switch I get. I am talking about the ones that are too good to be true, usually with an out of town number. For instance, this one: http://denver.backpage.com/FemaleEscorts/visiting-b-r-a-n-d-n-e-w-e-x-o-t-i-c-s-w-e-e-t-visiting-24/15264469 Google the telephone number and it is clear that number has been listed in other ads for some a while and it isn't that same girl. Why do that? Is there something to be gained if I call the number and they get my phone number? So, let's see what you folks think, if this is a worthy topic or not. If you think so, please reply.