By Elliott Deins
Saratoga Sun
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

SARATOGA —  In 2024, Wyoming residents lost $43 million to scams, Bank of Commerce and CEO Copper France told Saratoga seniors last week. 

“You’re not alone,” he said. “Just understand that we’re here to help. We’re not here to pass judgment. We know this stuff and we can help you fix it.”

France and Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken held an Outsmart Scammers lunchtime discussion on Tuesday, March 10, at the Saratoga Senior Center. The Saratoga Senior Center was the second of three stops for France and Bakken. The duo also spoke at the Rawlins and Baggs Senior Centers.

“When in doubt, call to verify,” Bakken told the seniors when it comes to sketchy text messages or phone calls. “Don’t be afraid to call your local bank, to call law enforcement before you make any decisions. If it feels suspicious, give us a call and tell us what’s going on. Don’t ever be embarrassed. It happens to everybody.”

Spotting Red Flags

Common online scams include phishing scams, romance scams, charity scams and more. Phishing scams are emails or messages that seem to be from legitimate sources like USPS, FedEx, banks or credit card companies, typically asking to verify personal information through a link. DO NOT CLICK THE LINK. 

Scams may be identified by taking the following measures:  

• Verify the sender’s email is from an official domain
• Be wary of a generic “Dear Customer” greeting
• Beware of urgent requests
• Examine a link before clicking 
• Verify any unusual requests 

Smishing scams are similar to phishing but through text messaging instead of emails.

Scammers have been known to access money and personal information through the heart using romance scams. Romance scammers prey on the vulnerability and trust of folks seeking companionship through digital platforms. 

After the initial sparks of romance, the scammer often creates false crises or emergency scenarios and requests money from the victim. Red flags for romance scammers are as follows:

• They fall in love fast
• They request to talk outside the dating app and don’t want to meet in person or video chat
• They request financial help with travel, debt or medical emergencies
• They claim to be living, working or traveling to a far location and cannot meet in person
• They request money through gift cards or electronics.

With charity scams, scammers often reach out with a heart-tugging story asking for donations and keeping most — if not all — of the money for themselves. Approaches can be made on the telephone, door to door, email, direct mail or social media.

Common tactics are capitalizing on recent disasters, mimicking genuine charity names, claiming the would-be victim made previous donations or the use of online crowdfunding. 

Signs of a charity scam are as follows:

• Pressure to give immediately 
• A thank you for a donation the intended victim doesn’t recall making
• A request for payment by cash, gift card or wire transfer 

There are many ways scammers can take advantage of people, and they’re only improving as technology improves. Simple signs and red flags of a scam are as follows: 

• They ask for personal information or money too quickly
• A deal seems too good to be true 
• High pressure or urgency
• Unusual communication 

“The easiest thing is to hang up,” Bakken said regarding how to deal with a scammer, “but let’s say you shared information. Some people are embarrassed of the fact they got scammed, so they won’t tell anyone until it’s too late. If it has to do with your bank account, call your bank first. If you act quickly, we can usually stop it before something bad happens.”

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