Over 40 scams have been reported to the Better Business Bureau of Arizona scam trackerso far in October.
The BBB scam tracker is an online tool that was set up last year as a way for the BBB to track trends and raise awareness about frauds. The data is all consumer-reported, with the bureau investigating trends.
Myriam Cruz with the BBB of Arizona said reporting this month has been particularly high, which is why the agency encourages everyone to report potential scams.
“Even to educate consumers, sometimes you don’t know that there is an IRS imposter scam or you’ve never heard of that type of scam,” Cruz said. “Before you didn’t have a place where you could actually go and see what’s going on in your local area in terms of scams.”
Cruz said scammers posing as IT experts or the IRS are very active in Arizona. IT scammers often call residents posing as an Internet provider. In this scam, they request computer logins and personal information. The IRS-imposter scam received attention last year and the IRS has since released a statementstating they will never initiate contact or ask for personal information or credit card numbers.
Cruz also said a number of fake websites selling name-brand products at low prices pop up during the holiday season, and consumers should report any websites that seem “too good to be true.”
