Police Beg You To Protect Your Money
Financial Crimes Detectives Offer These Tips


Shawn Stewart
Mr. Stewart has 27 years of experience with hundreds of international, commercial, military, and government IT projects. He holds certifications with ISC2, Cisco, Microsoft, CompTIA, ITIL, Novell, and others. He has a Masters in Cybersecurity, a Bachelors in IT, a Minor in Professional Writing, and is a published author.
Detective Jeff Donley and his team work to protect us. They are with the Financial Crimes Division of the Cherokee County Georgia Sheriff’s Department (LinkedIn Link). In a recent presentation, he offered his team’s Top 10 tips to avoid financial scams both online and in the real world. Some we’ve harped on for years. Others deteriorated my trust in humanity. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to share the list.
General Scams
1. If you’ve read any of my past blogs (Stop Robocalls – Link or Positive Thoughts for 2025 – Link), you know I abhor phone scammers. Donley couldn’t agree more. Never be afraid to just hang up. He reminds everyone that no Federal or local agency will call you asking for money. This includes the IRS, Social Security Administration, or the police themselves.
2. Don’t respond to calls claiming to be from Microsoft and don’t click on computer pop-ups claiming viruses or malware. This is a sneaky thing that happens when you find yourself on a webpage you shouldn’t be on. These are the precursors to Drive By Downloads and the absolute best option is to close them and ignore them then leave the site. If you can’t close the window, shut your computer off. Most computers will turn off if you hold the power button down for five (5) seconds.
3. Chatting online is safe but you need to very careful. Never respond to ANY unknown person through text messages or online chat rooms. The worst ones don’t use your name while pretending to know you. NEVER respond to anyone you don’t know who simply says “hi” or “hello”. They are phishing.
Romance Scams – A quick note on an epidemic stealing millions from the elderly. Romance scams occur when you met someone in a dating app or online that strikes up a relationship then starts asking for money. Several everyday people have lost everything and been forced to live with their children because of it. Did you hear about the lady in France who sent money to whom she thought was Brad Pitt in the hospital? I can’t make this up (Link).
Protect Your Credit
4. If you were born before 2017, your credit and financial history has been compromised. It seems that every other month we receive a letter notifying us of a new breach. Somehow a supposedly secure institution asks us to monitor our credit after they lost our records.
The only good news is accessing your credit reports is free. Detectives and I highly recommend everyone establish an account with Credit Karma (Link).
5. Order and closely review your credit reports as often as you are allowed. In most states, especially with all the data breaches, you should be able to do this every three (3) months. Challenge any unknown addresses, names, or accounts on your credit immediately. If you have children under 18, be sure to check their credit as well!
6. If you are over 65 or you are checking for your children under 18, freeze your credit! This prevents anyone from pretending to be you and establishing credit in your name. Freezing your credit is FREE and you can unfreeze it at any time if you need get a loan or credit card.
Protect Your Money
7. Set up alerts with your credit card accounts, checking accounts, and savings accounts. Sign up to receive texts and emails for crossing spending or balance limits, large transfers, and failed logins. Also, never respond to any email or text claiming to be from the bank. They will NEVER contact you by email or text or phone asking for passwords or personal information. They aren’t legally allowed to do that.
8. Use a credit card instead of a debit card. When you pay for something at the store, you simply choose Credit and it will not ask for your PIN. NEVER share your PIN with anyone. Be aware that some companies, like rental car companies and hotels, will include additional holds on a debit card. Be sure to ask about debit card policies.
Protect Your Mail
9. We all know at least one person who refuses to put any checks or gift cards in regular mail, especially their mailbox. Turns out, that person is right! Detectives also warn to shred unwanted mail, especially credit offers. Criminals have been known to dumpster dive and pilfer through trash as most junk mail includes personal information.
It’s 2025! Is check fraud still a thing? Why yes, it is! Dipping a checking in acetone will remove the ink from a regular pen. If done properly, a criminal can then fill in their name (or Cash) and any amount while your signature still sits at the bottom. Using a felt pen or permanent marker bleeds through the check, making acetone useless. Printing checks on a printer also prevents acetone fraud as do certain types of security paper checks.
Want to reduce your Junk Mail? Opt out at OptOutPrescreen.com (Link) for 5 years. Mailing in the form stops it for more than 5 years.
Help For IRS Fraud Victims
10. IRS Fraud – If you have had your tax return stolen by someone using your identity, the IRS offers a solution on their website, irs.gov (Link). Verbatim from the Detectives – “Select the fraud section and print out and complete the form 14039. The victim will have to mail in a hard tax return and prior to the end of the year, they’ll receive notice from the Department of Revenue giving them a PIN. This PIN will have to be written on their mailed in tax return for the next several years.”
Additional Protections
Many people believe taking their mail straight to the post office will prevent check fraud. However, porch pirates and mailbox bandits aren’t usually the problem. Police nationwide are finding that most check fraud comes from the USPS distribution centers themselves. Don’t believe me? Check out this article from San Diego (Link).
Remember what I always say about Gift Cards. There are only two types of people in the world that ever accept Gift Cards as payment – Grandkids and Criminals.
If you suspect you are a victim of a romance scam, bank scam, or fraudulent attempt to steal your money, contact the financial crimes division of your local police. Many jurisdictions take these crimes seriously and will help you determine whether it’s real or not.
A real lesson we learn from this is humans are social creatures. The less time we spend behind a monitor and get out with other humans, even for a coffee, helps keep us grounded and less likely to fall for scams.
Need Help?
Reach out to us! We’re all in this together. Visit our contact page to submit an inquiry. Also, please follow us on social media for the latest updates.
Check Out Our Podcast!
The Hillbilly Hacker Podcast is the hottest new show on the Internet to learn about today’s latest technology in simple words. You can find the Hillbilly Hacker on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, or where ever you find your podcasts. (Link)
Relevant info from community experts. Thank you!