Scammers are smart (well, some of them). By the time their tactics are uncovered, they’ve already stolen from a handful of people. To make sure you’re not one of those people, the Better Business Bureau has developed a new Scam Tracker Tool.
Available for the U.S. and Canada, the tool warns you about fraud in your area. You can see the latest fraud reports all around the country, or you can zoom into your neighborhood and see what’s going on there. You’ll get details about each scam, including a description of what happened, when it happened, and how much money was lost. You can also search for scams by keyword, date, country, or type of scam (identity theft, IRS fraud, etc.)
It’s crowdsourced, meaning scam victims report the fraud themselves. The BBB does vet each report, however, and sends them to the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance. Of course, you won’t be alerted to all scams, but I’ve tried it in my own area, and it reports on quite a few of them.
If you think you’ve been scammed, or you just want to see what’s going on around you, it’s a useful interactive tool worth checking out. You can find it at the link below.
BBB Scam Tracker | BBB via Consumer Reports