Voter registration scams
UNDATED Would you like to register to vote? Assistant director of consumer protection Betsy Brody with the Federal Trade Commission says that helpful question can be followed by more sinister ones. Some consumers have reported receiving phone calls from organizations claiming to represent the local registration or voter board and asking for personal information that an elections board would never request.
Brody says it seems like a ruse to trick consumers into giving up Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and other information that might be misused -- to commit identity theft.
She says people who are legitimately interested in registering you to vote will ask you to fill out a voter registration form, but they will never ask for your personal financial information.
If you think you have already been duped into sharing sensitive account numbers with someone you don't know, the F-T-C says move quickly to contact the three major credit bureaus so they can place a fraud alert on your credit files.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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