As economic stress rises, criminal behavior increases. Now more than ever we have to be vigilant of our surrounding and aware of scams. We have all dealt with scam calls and emails. We expect that to be on the rise. Beware of phising attacks via emails, text messages and phone calls. Phishing can be defined as a fraudulent attempt to collect personal information; with that definition we urge you to please not give any personal information to unknown callers and please do not click on any links via email. Understand that these emails or and Robos call may seem real. Once again ignore! Here are a couple of examples; you might get a call from your credit card with special offers or even reporting fraudulent activities on your card. What to do? Please hang up and call the number on the back of your card. Another example might be a call from the IRS, definitely do not give any personal information, please hang up. The IRS most likely would send you a letter in the mail. Remember that criminals will be preying on our fear and uncertainty. With unemployment on the rise, we could also expect an increase in work-at-home and sweepstakes scams. That’s not all, we have already seen reports that domestic violence is on the rise. It is extremely difficult to be in close quarter; we must be patient with one another as financial difficulties could start arguments and such. We must take it one day at a time and pray that this will be over soon.

Please remember to be vigilant. Again, don’t click on links sent to your email from unfamiliar emails and don’t provide any personal information over the phone or reply to text messages. We can take small step to prevent us from become a victim of these crimes. As always if you have any questions or concern please call our office (305) 470-1670.

God Bless,

Vivian Havlin

Acting Executive Director