The check is phony, but by the time the seller finds out, the car has already moved on to the second part of the scam.  The scammer, now in possession of the stolen vehicle, offers to sell it to a buyer-victim at “below-market” value, as long as the buyer is willing to pay cash.  By the time the cash buyer discovers that the vehicle has been reported stolen, the seller has disappeared, leaving the original seller to recover the car, and the cash-buyer out of luck.

To avoid being taken in this scam, here are a few tips:

Don’t accept third-party payments for a vehicle. It may take up to a week or more to determine that a third-party check (such as one from an insurance company) is or isn’t legitimate.  If the buyer presses, ask the buyer to cash the check and pay with cash. If the buyer refuses, walk away from the deal.

If you are willing to accept a check from the buyer, meet the buyer at his/her financial institution to verify that the check for payment is legitimate.  If the buyer doesn’t want to meet you at the bank to conduct the financial portion of the transaction, walk away.

Ask to see the buyer’s identification. The buyer will need to produce ID in order to complete the title transfer. If the buyer doesn’t want to identify himself, walk away.

If you’re buying a used car, be wary of vehicles that are offered well below market value.  Before you agree to meet a seller, look up the Kelley Blue Book value of the vehicle you’re looking to buy. If the seller is offering the car for substantially less, ask why the price is so low. If the buyer states a need for quick cash, walk away.

Write down the vehicle identification number (VIN) on the car. It’s normally displayed under the windshield on the driver’s side of the car.  Also ask to see the car’s current registration. If the seller won’t provide the ownership paperwork or the VIN on the car doesn’t match the information on the registration, walk away from the deal.

If the seller does show you the registration papers, don’t make a deal on the spot. Instead, take the VIN to the local police department and ask them to verify the vehicle’s registration. If the car is stolen, be prepared to provide as much information as possible about the seller and how you encountered him or her.

Don’t inspect a car for sale by yourself, and don’t carry a large amount of cash with you to inspect a car for sale.  If the seller is legitimate, meet in a public place to conduct the sales transaction.

Related: Read more about car financing scams.

In the former case, a candy jar or donation box may solicit small change and indicate that the cash will be going to a particular organization. Because the donation box is on the counter at a trusted business, patrons assume that the business owner has checked out the charity.  Most often, this isn’t the case, and small change can add up to a lucrative take each week, especially if the scammer has placed 10-12 donation boxes in an area.

Another popular ruse involves “sound-alike” charities: phony organizations that have a name similar to that of a well-known charity.  These sound-alikes skim donations that unsuspecting donors believe will be used to support the well-known charity.  In reality, the donations are pocketed and the scammers disappear.

To protect yourself from charitable fraud, here are a few tips provides by Dana Bashor Charity website:

If the charity solicits donations through a donation box on a store counter, ask the storeowner if s/he has researched the charity.  Ask who placed the box and how often it is collected.

Check out the charity using a research site like charitywatch.org, or guidestar.org.  Also check with your local Better Business Bureau to see if anyone else has complained about the charity.

Contact the charity that’s supposed to receive the donations.  Ask if the charity is aware that donations are being solicited on its behalf through local merchants. Ask if the donations are turned over to the organization, and if so, how much has been given recently.

Research “sound-alike” charities carefully. Find out whether they’re registered with the IRS by looking them up using guidestar.org or charitywatch.org.  One caveat: some groups that are affiliated with a church don’t need to register, as long as the IRS recognizes the church itself as a charitable organization. If a group claims to be part of a church, contact the church to verify the connection.

Avoid making charitable donations in cash. If you want to support a charity, it’s best to write a check or make a donation by credit card.

Don’t give your Social Security Number to a charity, even if they request it. There’s no reason for a legitimate charity to need your SSN.

Read more about charitable giving scams from planet antares scam alerts.

The most common scams targeted at older Americans involve investments in risky or non-existent products, unneeded insurance or loans, and false requirements for enrollment in legitimate benefit plans.  Investment program pose a particular risk because many seniors don’t appreciate the risks involved in certain investments or are easily persuaded to join investments that are not appropriate for someone their age or in their financial position.

To avoid scams targeted at older persons, or to help an older person avoid an investment scam, here are a few helpful tips.

Avoid scams that require the participant to borrow in order to invest.  Many scam artists try to talk older persons into taking a reverse mortgage on their homes in order to fund an investment.  Too often, these investments are exceptionally risky, or can’t deliver the promised returns.  The investor is left with a diminished asset value and no investment returns.

Preservation of accumulated wealth rather than the creation of additional capital is generally more appropriate for a senior citizen. The safest strategies for older investors are those that are designed to meet specific needs. For example, investments that can provide supplemental ordinary income, help cover the cost of catastrophic health care, or provide long-term care are worth more to a senior citizen than those investments that offer the potential of a higher return but pose a higher risk.

Senior citizens are eligible for a large number of benefit programs offered through Social Security, Medicare and the Veterans Administration. Generally speaking, it does not cost the beneficiary to enroll in a government benefit, however some benefits, like Medicare, may have premiums associated with them. Working directly with these agencies, rather than working through an intermediary, can help protect senior citizens from being taken advantage of.

Senior citizens and retirees don’t need as much insurance as someone who is still working and may still have obligations to repay or dependents to support. A popular scam involves persuading a senior citizen to buy worthless or expensive life insurance coverage in order to have something to leave for loved ones.  Life insurance shouldn’t be used to provide an inheritance, but rather to meet any financial obligations the insured may still have.  If a person has no debt obligations, life insurance in any form is largely unnecessary.

A variation of this scam involves a vacant home that is in the foreclosure process. The scammer lists the home on Craigslist for a low price and with no credit check required. The scam artist meets the prospective tenant at a location, accepts a deposit and takes off.

Here are a few tips to avoid rental scams.

If you’re unfamiliar with the city in which you’re renting, contact the county clerk’s office to verify property ownership information.  The clerk may also be able to tell you whether the home is in foreclosure. Since foreclosing homeowners often fall behind in their tax payments, check with the tax assessor to see if the taxes on the home have been paid. If the home is vacant and the taxes are unpaid, those are good clues that the home is being foreclosed and isn’t really available for rental.

Do not send deposits or rental funds out of the country for rental property. If the offer is legitimate and the owners are truly out of the country, they will likely have made care taking arrangements with someone local. People don’t simply leave the country without making plans for assets as valuable as a home.

Check the local property listings for homes for sale.  A scammer may choose an empty home for sale to make the rental offer look more legitimate. If the home is listed, contact the seller’s agent for more information on the property.

Attempt to contact the owner of the home directly.  Ask for a direct phone number or ask to see the home prior to renting it.  If neither of these things is possible or if the “landlord” can’t let you into the home, it’s a good bet that the rental opportunity is a scam.  Leave without placing a deposit on the home.

Do not pay any rental deposits in cash.  If the “landlord” asks for a cash deposit, offer to provide a cashier’s check or bank check instead.  If that’s not acceptable, look elsewhere.

Financers may tell you that your credit score is lower than it is, meaning that you are not eligible for their premiere interest rates.  They may also tell you that your credit limit is lower than what’s needed for you to buy the car you want, hoping you’ll take a less desirable car off of their lot.

Dealers are also coping with a relatively new phenomenon – the “under water” buyer.  This occurs when you owe more on your car than the car is worth as a trade-in.  When this happens, some dealers tack on the difference between your car’s trade in value and its actual value to your new car loan. When they do this, they are merely allowing you to finance the out-of-pocket costs you’d have to pay to make the car purchase. This reduces your immediate cost, but increases your monthly payment, perhaps beyond what you can really afford.

Some dealers will let you “buy” a car on a “preliminary credit approval.”  You may trade your old car in and buy a newer vehicle. A week later, the dealer calls and says your vehicle loan was not approved or was approved only at a higher interest rate.  The dealer may tell you that you need to return the car or make a higher monthly payment to accommodate the new, higher interest rate. If you don’t return the vehicle, they will report it stolen.

They may also tell you that they can lower your monthly payment by increasing the length of the car loan from 48 months to 60 or even 72 months. When you opt to return the car to the dealer, you may be told that your old car has already been sold or that you must pay a higher rate for the miles you’ve put on the newer car.

Here are some tips to avoid car-financing scams.

Before you go into a dealer, know exactly what your credit score is and what you’ve been approved for.  Your bank or credit union can help you with this. Often, these institutions offer better rates than captive financers do and they are more realistic about what you can afford.

Know exactly what you can afford to spend on a monthly car payment. If the payments for a vehicle are too high, keep looking or something that won’t break your budget.

Do not buy a car with only a “preliminary credit approval.” Financers can provide instant credit decisions while you wait in the dealership. If you decide to take a “preliminary approval” deal, do not take delivery of the vehicle until you receive a final financing approval.  A disreputable dealer will pressure you to sign over your old car immediately, before the financing for your new vehicle is “complete”. Do not sign over the title to your old car until the financing is set for your new car.

Bait-and-switch financing is illegal. If the dealer attempts to force you to take a vehicle at a higher interest rate than what was initially agreed upon, return the vehicle and file a complaint with your state Attorney General’s office.

In this type of scam, whether you’re being asked to invest in a business, pay taxes on a windfall, help someone in need by transferring money, or refund an overpayment you’ll be asked to put up some money of your own.  The scam request may come in the form of a request for help from a foreign national, or as “inside information” on “found money.”

Here are some tips to help you avoid a “found money” scam.

Do not respond to email from persons you do not know if the email offers you the opportunity to purchase a “share” of money that has been abandoned, acquired illegally, or found.

Do not provide financial information, including credit card numbers, bank account numbers, or routing numbers to anyone who contacts you by email or over the phone.

The hallmark of this scheme is the request to put up some of your own money to cover the cost of processing your request, paying taxes or any other expense associated with transferring money.  If you are asked to pay any transaction expenses to get access to “found money,” you can bet you’re dealing with a scam.

The pyramid scheme quickly falls apart, however as many more new participants are required to sustain the promised returns to the people at the top.  Eventually, the number of required participants reaches its practical limit and the pyramid falls apart, leaving most new participants with nothing, and a few original players at the top of the pyramid (usually the pyramid operator(s)) with substantial gains.

Pyramid schemes (and their close cousin, the Ponzi scheme) are illegal in the United States and many other developed countries, however the lure of quick and easy money is often enough to ensure that these investment scams continue to operate.

Here are a few tips that can help you avoid a pyramid scam.

All investment opportunities in the United States are regulated by law and must provide certain information to prospective investors. This information, called a prospectus, must be presented to potential investors prior to investment.  If an investment doesn’t have a prospectus, or the salesperson doesn’t want to provide specific information about the investment, be cautious about buying in.

All investment salespersons, brokers and dealers must be registered in the state in which they are doing business. Check with your state to determine whether the person presenting the investment is registered. If not, do not invest your money.

Pyramid schemes require a lot of additional investment to continue. If an investment sales person asks you to refer other potential prospects, uses pressure tactics to encourage you to refer other investors, stresses the time-limited nature of the opportunity, or offers you a better return on your investment based on the number of additional investors you refer, consider these to be strong “red-flag indicators” that something is wrong. Examine this investment opportunity very carefully before putting any money in.

Likewise, beware of investment opportunities that come to you via friends who may offer you a deal “too good to pass up.”  Regardless of how an investment offer comes to you, be prepared to do your own research and make your own decisions about whether an investment is right for you.

The return on your investment should be commensurate with the amount of money you invest. Reaping an exceptionally large return on a relatively small investment is not unheard of, but it is highly unusual. It’s also unusual to experience only gains in an investment. Most investments experience a mixture of gains and losses over the investment period.  Avoid investments that promise only gains, show only a history of gains, or report extraordinary gains despite operating in a soft economy.

The key identifiers for a pyramid scheme are recruitment of new investors, time-limited opportunities to invest, and exceptional returns over a short period of time or during times when legitimate investments are either losing or producing minimal returns.

How Phishing Scams Work - Planet Antares Scam Solutions

Phishing (pronounced “fishing”) is a type of online scam that entices a person to relay private login and password information for their banking or credit card accounts.  A phishing attack relies on a potential victim’s belief that an email has been sent from the victim’s bank or credit card company.

Often, the scam email reports that a bank or credit card account has been disabled due to a perceived security threat, and the user must log in to verify his or her identity to reactivate the account.  A link is provided with the email. Often the phishing email uses the bank’s logo to increase the user’s sense of security about the sender.

The link takes the user to a login page that appears to be identical to the online login screen. The user enters his or her login ID and password and presses the button to log in.  Nothing appears to happen. Pressing the button a second time may actually take the user to the legitimate login site.

What’s really happened is that the link directed the user to a phony Web site that was designed to look like the legitimate site. The fake login page captures the user’s login and password information, which is then used by the scammer to access the victim’s banking or credit card information.

This is one of many different phishing scams. The point of these scams is to collect banking or financial information by fooling visitors into thinking that they’re dealing with their own financial institution.

To avoid phishing scams, follow these tips:

Know your bank. Your bank won’t contact you by email if there’s a problem with one or more of your accounts. They will notify you in writing, or if the matter is urgent, they’ll call you by phone.

Don’t “verify” your login information. Your bank will never ask you for your banking password because, between you and the bank, you’re the only one who needs it to get into your account.

Don’t follow links. If you need to log into a banking site, go directly to the site by typing the URL.  The embedded email link may be handy, but it probably won’t take you where you want to go.

Verify email requests. If you’re still uncertain about the origin of any email correspondence, contact the original sender by telephone to verify the legitimacy of the request.

Get even more scam tips & news from Planet Antares Solutions.

Certainly, one of the most popular email scams is the “419″ or “Nigerian” scam. This email scam includes an email from a person you have never met who is looking for someone “honest” to help them out of a bind.

The sender claims to be a widow, an orphan, or a prince or princess of some small principality. The sender has come across a large amount of money and wants to move it out of the country, but needs to conduct a wire transfer, first to a legitimate US bank account, and then (with your help) to another “safe” account. If you can help, your reward will be some generous portion of the money being transferred.  Simply provide your banking information and the first transfer will occur.

Another “help” scam comes in the form of a request from a friend. The email states that the friend is traveling out of the country and has been robbed. The friend asks you to send money immediately.

Another popular scam includes the clickable link that will take you to a Web site, or enable you to download some desirable software package for free.  Along the same lines, an email that purports to come from a bank or online organization like PayPal states that your account has been disabled, and to re-enable it, you’ll need to visit a particular Web site and log in.

These scams rely on the recipient to respond, either to a request for assistance or to click on an embedded link, visit a Web site or download software.  Unfortunately, providing your banking information will simply result in your bank account being drained, or worse, you may transfer money to the email sender as “proof” of your trustworthiness or to cover some “up-front costs” related to the scam.

Visiting an untrusted Web site or downloading “free” software (which is actually “malware”) can often result in the loss of control over your computer, or the loss of your personal information, including credit card numbers, PINs, passwords and bank account information.  Malware may contain keystroke loggers, which record and report to a third party everything you type. It may also contain a “root kit” or a “backdoor” into your computer, allowing your computer to be controlled by someone else.

To avoid these email scams, don’t respond to calls for help from people you don’t know. When a friend asks for help, call or generate a new email (don’t reply to the one you’ve received) and ask if the request for help is legitimate.  If you can’t reach your friend, look at the email “header” to see where the email actually came from. If you start to see email addresses, servers and domains you’re not familiar with, chances area good that the request is phony.

If you’ve received notice that your bank account has been compromised, contact your bank directly by phone or visit in person.  Banks usually don’t correspond with customers via email for important matters like account security.  Be suspicious of any email that asks you to visit a Web site and log in using the same information you use to access your bank account(s).

Configure your email reader to ask before opening any attachments, and don’t visit a Web site by clicking on a link that’s been embedded in an email.  If you have to visit a Web site, retype the link or copy and paste it into a new browser window before visiting it.  You can also hover your mouse over an active link without clicking on it, then look at the browser’s status bar to see where the link will actually take you. If the link contains a redirection or takes you to a different Web site, don’t click on it!

Finally, don’t download “free” software from sources you don’t recognize. Keep your anti-virus and anti-malware software up-to-date on your computer, and watch your computer carefully for unusual behavior.