SNOHOMISH COUNTY – Boat Motor Thefts

If you own a boat, you can help the Sheriff's Office by checking on it. Here are the details from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page:

“Do you own a boat? We have a suspect who has been stealing a lot of boat motors in north Snohomish County. Currently, we are aware of these thefts occurring in Lake Stevens area, Everett and near Camano Island – possibly other unidentified locations as well.  Unfortunately, detectives are having a hard time locating the owners because most people have their boats stored under tarps and don’t check them again until Spring when they discover the motor is missing. If you have a boat – please check for your motor. If you discover your motor is missing, please send us a private message and we will connect you with detectives. Thank you!”

If you are not on Facebook, call the non-emergency number at (425) 407-3999.

 

 

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

https://www.facebook.com/SnoCoSheriff

 

SNOHOMISH HEALTH DISTRICT – Warning about Vaccination Scams

 

The Snohomish Health District is warning Snohomish County residents to watch out for vaccination scams. With the high interest in COVID-19 vaccines some people may be tempted to find ways to take advantage of what appear to be opportunities.

But the Health District, as well as the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, remind everyone that you should not have to pay to receive your vaccination. Anyone who offers to vaccinate you, put you in line, or give you “early access” to the vaccine for a price is a scammer.

Also, all vaccines must be administered by licensed medical professionals.

For information about the COVID-19 vaccination program in Snohomish County, go to,

https://snohomish-county-coronavirus-response-snoco-gis.hub.arcgis.com/pages/covid-19-vaccine?fbclid=IwAR3F1pimLRhPlR4MQ8OmT__S9E3wP9qZOOtxrpVwZ2kg9zsk0TzHBWvtap8

 

 

 

 

Federal Trade Commission:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2020/12/covid-19-vaccines-are-pipeline-scammers-wont-be-far-behind

 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General:

https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/consumer-alerts/fraud-alert-covid-19-scams/

 

 

 

 

TAX SEASON – Another Opportunity for Scammers to Take Your Money and Identity

Tax time has become a great time of the year for scammers to impersonate IRS personnel to take both your money and your identity. Recent publicity about COVID-19 unemployment insurance fraud has been an early warning of stealing from taxpayers.

Fake IRS Text Message. But there is more! The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has sent out a warning about an IRS text scam that claims your federal tax return has been rejected by the IRS. ITRC provided an example of this scam text as seen below.

 

The main objective of the text is to collect your identity information when you click on a link or call a number provided by the scammer.

The IRS points out that it will not initiate contact by email, text message or social media to request your personal or financial information. Your tax filer might use text to communicate with you, but the IRS will not.

Ghost Tax Preparers. Also, the IRS warns taxpayer not to use “ghost” tax return preparers. A ghost tax return preparer is someone who you pay to prepare your tax return who refuses to sign the return as the person who prepared it. According to federal law, anyone who is paid to prepare or assist in preparing a federal tax return is supposed to have a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) and must sign the return and provide their PTIN.

Unscrupulous tax return preparers may also,

·         Require payment in cash only and not provide a receipt.

·         Invent income to qualify their clients for tax credits.

·         Claim fake deductions to boost the size of the refund.

·         Direct refund into their bank account, not the taxpayer’s account.

 

 

 

Identity Theft Resource Center:

https://www.idtheftcenter.org/latest-irs-text-scam-claims-your-return-has-been-rejected/?utm_source=web&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=IRSTextScam

 

IRS:

https://www.irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/report-phishing

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/beware-of-ghost-preparers-who-dont-sign-tax-returns

 

Federal Trade Commission:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2021/02/top-frauds-2020?utm_source=govdelivery

 

ROMANCE SCAMS – Scammers Fake Looking for Love to Take Your Money

Organizations such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), AARP, Better Business Bureau, Identity Theft Resource Center have been warning everyone about romance scams.

The FTC points out that it has seen a 50% increase of reports of romance scams since 2019. And it says that consumers report losing a record $304 million to romance scams last year.

More and more people are using websites and apps to meet potential romantic partners. Scammers lurk on these sites, posting fake pictures and profiles. Then they can wait for victims to show interest.

Most people on dating websites are honest. But the few that are scammers do have patterns that you can look for. As with most scams, the scammers want to get you emotional so that you act before thinking. Here are some warning signs to look for,

·         Photos showing people who are too perfect and stories of great financial success. Be wary of photos and unusually successful stories. You can check photos through Google’s “search the image” feature.

·        Romance scammers may want to communicate away from the site with email, messenger, or phone.

·       The scammer may quickly profess their love for you and may talk about a future together early in the communication.

·       They may lavish praise of you in emails, texts, or on the phone. Copy and paste the text into a search engine to see if they show up on websites dedicated to exposing romance scams.

·       They may promise to meet with you in person, but, when the time comes produce an excuse that they cannot meet. Or they may tell you a story such as they are in the military in Afghanistan or some other far-off posting, or they are on an oil rig, or they are in an international aid organization in Africa.

·       They may talk about trust. Then they may give a hard luck story that leads to a request for money to help them out.

To help you from becoming a victim of this scam, remember,

·       Do not send money or personal information to anyone that you have not met in person.

·       Ask specific questions about details given in their profile.

·       Research this person online. You can do a reverse image search with www.tineye.com or images.google.com. You can also search for profile names, email, and phone numbers online.

Check out the following resources for more information about this scam.

 

AARP:

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/romance.html?cmp=SNO-WA-TW-FRD&socialid=4487119977

 

Better Business Bureau:

https://www.bbb.org/article/scams/17012-bbb-tip-romance-scams

  

Federal Trade Commission:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-you-need-know-about-romance-scams

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/02/new-ftc-data-show-massive-increase-romance-scams-304m-losses

 

 

COVID-19 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FRAUD – Scammers Take Advantage of Unemployment Payments

While many people have been receiving unemployment checks since they have been laid off due to COVID-19, scammers have been taking advantage of the situation by using the personal information of identity theft victims to make their own state unemployment claims and receive payments.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports that in 2020 it has received 394,280 reports about government benefits fraud. In 2019 it received 12,900 benefits fraud reports. The U.S. Department of Labor Inspector General estimates that up to $26 billion pandemic-related unemployment benefits were obtained by fraud.

We all lose as taxpayers since this money is going to thieves who do not qualify for unemployment payments. But the identity theft victims are victimized a second time. Reports are starting to come into the press about citizens receiving IRS Form 1099-G from the State Employment Security Department (ESD) for unemployment payments that they did not receive. State unemployment offices issue the 1099-G’s because unemployment payments are considered to be taxable income. This may be the first alert that many people receive that they are victims of identity theft. Not only did they not receive this money, but the IRS thinks they owe taxes for money that was stolen from the unemployment system.

The IRS recommends that if you receive a 1099-G for funds that you did not receive to contact ESD and request a corrected 1099-G to show that you did not receive the payments. When ESD sends you the 1099-G it also sends a copy of that 1099-G to the IRS.

So, the state has reported income to you that you did not receive, and the IRS thinks you received that income and owe taxes for that “income.”

When it comes time to file your income tax return, accountants are recommending that you acknowledge that reported income on the appropriate line of your tax return then subtract that amount on the form with a note that the amount reported by the state was due to fraud.  

ESD still has a backlog of thousands of fraud investigations and when it can send corrected 1099-G’s to the IRS is unknown.

Check out the sources below for more information about the situation.

 

Internal Revenue Service:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-offers-guidance-to-taxpayers-on-identity-theft-involving-unemployment-benefits

https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/get-an-identity-protection-pin

 

Federal Trade Commission:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2021/02/identity-theft-awareness-week-starts-today

 

Krebs on Security:

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/01/the-taxman-cometh-for-id-theft-victims/#more-53733

 

KIRO TV News:

https://www.kiro7.com/news/jesse-jones/tax-forms-latest-unpleasant-surprise-mail-victims-unemployment-impostor-fraud/XAAPIKDUNFFKNPHLMYMWPKH6DA/

 

 

SNOHOMISH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE – Domestic Violence, Mental Health, Suicide

 

With the tension and apprehension of COVID-19 over the last year mental health and the prospect of suicide have become more acute. Also, domestic violence survivors have become more vulnerable to their abusers. The latest issue of the Sheriff’s Office’s crime prevention newsletter, “Partners in Crime Prevention,” talks about these issues and offers some resources that can help.

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

https://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6608

 

WASHINGTON STATE AUDITOR’S OFFICE – Security Breach

You may have seen the news that broke yesterday about the security breach involving a contractor doing work for the Office of the Washington State Auditor (SAO). Some of the compromised data files may have contained personal information of Washington state residents who filed unemployment insurance claims in 2020.

For the latest details, check the links below.

If you think that your personal information might have been involved in this breach, the SAO considering the following actions,

·         Consider obtaining a free copy of your credit report.

·         Consider placing a fraud alert on your credit report.

·         Consider place a credit freeze on your credit file.

 

 

Office of the Washington State Auditor:

https://sao.wa.gov/breach2021/

 

The Herald:

https://www.heraldnet.com/northwest/data-breach-compromised-info-of-1-6m-who-sought-unemployment/

 

The Seattle times:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/personal-data-of-1-6-million-washington-unemployment-claimants-exposed-in-hack-of-state-auditor/

 

Federal Trade Commission:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/

https://www.identitytheft.gov/

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0014-identity-theft

 

SNOHOMISH COUNTY 911 – Calling 911

From time to time, you might have a need for assistance from the Sheriff’s Office, police, fire fighters, or EMS. If it is an emergency, you should call 911.

Snohomish County 911 defines an emergency as “an immediate threat to life or property or an in-progress crime.” It emphasizes that if you are not sure if you are in an emergency it is ok to call 911. The call taker will assist you. If you happen to be outside of the county, and become aware of an emergency within Snohomish County, you can call the Snohomish County 911’s 10-digit emergency line at 425-407-3970.

If you need a non-emergency response from the Sheriff or police, want to report suspicious activity, or to follow-up on an incident you can call the non-emergency number at 425-407-3999.

When you call 911, the call taker will ask you for the exact location of the emergency and your phone number. The call taker will ask you a series of questions to determine the type of response, who should respond (Sheriff, city police, fire fighters, EMS). The call taker can also provide life-saving medical guidance before first responders arrive. As the call taker is gathering the information from you, he/she simultaneously shares the information with the appropriate dispatcher who in turn shares the information with first responders. So, first responders receive timely updates as you provide information.

Snohomish County 911 staff act as a conduit of initial information between the public and first responders in an emergency. The motto of Snohomish County 911 is “Help Starts Here.” You can call 911 for help in an emergency.

 

 

 

Snohomish County 911:

https://www.sno911.org/