Most people have figured out not to send personal information or replies to emails from  people who they don’t know that offer them big bucks if they only send a small amount now. But what if a Facebook friend has an offer for you via personal message? The answer is even if a message is from someone who you think is your friend, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Here’s a heads up to be aware of a new scheme involving advance fees with a workers’ compensation twist. Please read this article: Advance-Fee Scam Moves Into Comp Fraud Arena

Be aware that people are willing to take your money, and this is not how any workers’ compensation system in any state works.

The majority of workers’ compensation lawyers I know work on a contingency-fee basis, so even if they need a small retainer fee, they won’t ask for money as a case is ongoing, but they will get paid a portion of the funds at the end of the case.

The original message from the Illinois woman’s Facebook friend’s hacked account “relayed that the woman was eligible to receive a $150,000 workers’ compensation settlement,” according to the article.

In this scam that involved the Internet, phone calls and sending money via the mail, a woman from Illinois sent almost $29,000 to a California woman, who “then allegedly wire(d) the money to multiple locations in Nigeria.”

If someone who is an “attorney” calls you, be sure to get his or her name, and find out the state where they are licensed.

Confirming lawyers’ are licensed can be done through a Google search for “licensed lawyer in state of …” As examples, looking for licensed lawyers in Nebraska and Iowa yielded the following website results: Nebraska Supreme Court Attorney Services Division Lawyer Search: https://mcle.wcc.ne.gov/ext/SearchLawyer.do and Iowa Judicial Branch Office of Professional Regulation Lawyer Search: https://www.iacourtcommissions.org/SearchLawyer.do

 

To report suspected fraud, review The United States Department of Justice Report Fraud site, found at http://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/report-fraud