12 Top Scams Affecting Your Pocketbook


It seems like there's always a new scam making the rounds, and even those who are savvy can fall for them. Here are 12 of the latest scams that you should watch out for -- including phone scams, online scams, investment scams and others -- and how you can protect yourself. 1. Identity Theft Scam Hui-chin Chen, a financial planner at Pavlov Financial Planning in Arlington, Virginia, told a harrowing tale of a colleague's client who had his email account hacked. The hacker contacted the financial planner and requested an emergency withdrawal into a new bank account. Fortunately, since it was a new bank account, the adviser called the client and found out that he never made the request. The advisory firm's internal controls stopped the adviser from transferring the funds to the thief. To protect yourself from this type of identity theft, always make sure you have a secondary verification when a financial adviser or second party has access to your money.