Bill Moak has served as the president of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Mississippi for six years. The Jackson area native worked in public relations before coming to the BBB.

Sun Staff Writer Elizabeth Ortega recently spoke to Moak about various scams that some Mississippians are falling victim to.

What are some of the more common scams that people are falling victim to?

“The most common thing these days is sweepstakes type scams in which someone will be approached with a solicitation or a promise that they’ve won big money, but they don’t remember entering the sweepstakes. The lure is the huge amounts of money that the scammer promises.

“Sometimes they’ll send a check, as an advance on winnings, but it turns out that that’s really a way to get the person to send money out of their own checking account which the scammers then will take off with. If the consumer gets a check, the check will bounce eventually, and the consumer has written a check out of their account with their own money. And so they’re on the hook to pay for that.

“Any unsolicited check that you get, or any notice that you’ve won a sweepstakes should be viewed very suspiciously.

“A lot of times scam artists will set up a moving operation to move people’s goods from one city to another. And if (consumers) don’t check out the companies very well they could get linked up with a mover who is less than scrupulous. Sometimes they wind up holding the goods for ransom, basically. They’ll say, we’ve got your goods but you have to pay us “X” number of dollars, and this is way above what the person had expected to pay.

“This is a form of theft and you should go to the police if you’ve been victimized this way. A mover should, first of all, disclose all the costs that you’re…to pay. And you shouldn’t have to necessarily pay that up front, but they should give you a contract and you should sign the contract if you agree with the terms of what all the costs are. There shouldn’t be hidden costs.

“One of the (scams)…are work at home opportunities. A lot of time there are these work at home opportunities that appear in the newspaper. You see this all over the place, ‘work from home, make $5,000 a month.’ The vast majority of these things are ripoffs. Most of them are designed to propagate themselves.”

What are the signs that you might be involved with a scam or scammer?

“The first thing to look for is promises that seem too good to be true. Another red flag that we’ve noticed in recent years…is misspelled words or bad grammar. Any competent sweepstakes agency or lottery, or anything like this is going to have professional people prepare their communications. They’re not going to send you an e-mail to tell you you’ve won.

“And in fact, people should be aware that participation in a foreign lottery is illegal.”

How is the Better Business Bureau involved with scams?

“Our main (goal) of educating the public about scams is an outgrowth of our attempts to alert the public to unscrupulous business practices that we see. Scams are, obviously, one of these. That’s why we spend so much of our attention telling people about scams.

“Now, if someone has been a victim of a scam there’s a complaint process. A person will file a complaint and if it’s obvious that there’s fraud being committed then we’ll refer it to the appropriate authorities and get their assistance.”

Why do some people become victims of these scams?

“Two things - need and greed. Those are the biggest motivators. Often, scam artists will prey on people that can least afford to be preyed upon. Often people who have fallen victims once, their names will be out there on what they call a sucker list and other scam artists will approach them.

“Need is a big motivator because often people get into financial difficulties, find that they’re unable to pay their bills, and if they get a check saying you’ve won $250,000…they might think, well it’s worth a shot. And that starts the slippery slope.

“Greed is the other side of that. If people think that it’s time for their ship to come in, maybe they’re normal…radar is not up, they’re likely to be victims.”

How many people in Mississippi are falling victim to scams?

“There are some statistics. According to (the Consumer Sentinel complaint figures), 3,812 Mississippi consumers filed fraud or identity theft complaints in 2006. The biggest category in that is sweepstakes and lotteries.”

Who are the people behind these scams?

“They’re often people with criminal histories. They’re often known swindlers and fraud artists who have maybe even served prison time. Sometimes, they’re people who have not yet been convicted, so it’s a little harder to know.

“That brings up a key point. More often than not, it’s going to be very difficult to trace the person who’s actually behind it. These are people who have found that they can make money by less than honest behavior.”

If someone is a victim of a scam, what should they do?

“The thing for people to remember is as soon as they know they’re a victim, the first thing to do is call your law enforcement office. Call your police department, your sheriff’s department, attorney general’s office and just get this on the record. If you lose money, it’s important that you file this as soon as possible.

“And if there’s identity theft involved, you’re going to have to file an affidavit anyway to make sure that your name is cleared. If the scam is local in nature, it also might help the police catch the person.”