People receiving stimulus payment debit cards

Staff and wire report

Montana Senior Medicare Patrol said in a release that local Area Agencies on Aging are reporting that senior citizens are calling to ask about a credit card that arrived in the mail from "Money Network Financial," saying that they represent the U.S. Treasury and the recipient should call to activate the card with their economic stimulus. These are legitimate cards.

Some 8 million Americans are receiving their stimulus payments on a pre-paid debit card sent through the mail, in addition to others who will receive the payment via paper checks or automatic deposits. Just because someone received their last payment one way does not mean they will receive it the same way in this stimulus.

EIP Cards are being sent in a white envelope that prominently displays the U.S. Department of the Treasury seal. The envelope states "Not a bill or an advertisement. Important information about your Economic Impact Payment."

The EIP Card has the Visa name on the front of the card and the issuing bank name, MetaBank®, N.A. on the back. Each mailing will include instructions on how to securely activate and use the EIP Card.

People should watch their mail carefully. People who received a card and are unsure whether it is legitimate, or who need to report any COVID-19 related fraud including services billed to Medicare that they didn't receive, are urged to call their local SMP office or local Area Agency on Aging at 1-800-551-3191.

People can check the status of their payment using the Get My Payment tool on IRS.gov .

Information in this release was provided by the Internal Revenue Service.

Senior Medicare Patrol also released information from Federal Trade Commission on identifying scam calls, mailings and emails and how to avoid being scammed.

The release came with a warning about a scam representing itself to be from Amazon asking people to click on a link to resolve a problem with an order.

It also followed a release from Montana Department of Labor and Industry saying people are receiving texts claiming to be from the department asking people to click on a link to resolve an unemployment insurance issue.

Department of Labor and Industry noted that any links from its department would end in a mt.gov domain, while scams representing themselves as the department may end in .php, .net, or .com.

The release said the department advises people who receive these messages to:

• Do not click the link

• Do not respond to the number

Unemployment Insurance programs nationwide have seen an uptick in attempts by sophisticated criminals to defraud programs and secure benefits. DLI is continuously working to combat these illegal schemes.

DLI encourages those who believe they may be a victim of unemployment fraud to immediately report it at http://uid.dli.mt.gov/report-fraud, or call the UI fraud hotline at (406) 444-0072.

People are warned not to click on links unless they know they are from legitimate senders, and to contact agencies, bureaus or whatever the sender claims to be representing to verify its accuracy.

The FTC information provided by Senior Medicare Patrol said all scams have the same basic elements in common.

"If you're not sure, always check things out before responding," the release said. "Create a script you always follow so you don't have to think on the spot. Here are some tips from the FTC to help tell if something is a scam."

1. Scammers often pretend to be from an organization the person they are contacting know.

They even use technology to change the phone number that appears on caller ID.

2. Scammers say there's a problem or a prize.

3. Scammers pressure people to act immediately.

4. Scammers tell people to pay in a specific way.

They often insist that people pay by sending money through a money transfer company or by putting money on a gift card and then giving them the number on the back.

Regardless of what type of scam, people can follow these tips to avoid them:

• Block unwanted calls and text messages.

• People should not give personal or financial information in response to a request they didn't expect.

• If people get an email or text message from a company they do business with and think it's real, it's still best not to click on any links. Instead, the recipient should contact them by looking up their information independently. People should not call a number they gave or the number from caller ID.

• Resist the pressure to act immediately.

• Never pay someone who insists people pay with a gift card or by using a money transfer service. And never deposit a check and send money back to someone.

• Before people do anything else, they should tell someone - a friend, a family member, a neighbor - what happened. Talking about it could help people realize it's a scam or they can help look into it first. Often doing a quick Google search will answer the questions.

If people were scammed or think they saw a scam, they should report it to the Federal Trade Commission. People can file a fraud report online at http://reportfraud.ftc.gov or by calling 1-877-ftc-help (382-4357).

Information pulled from https://www.Consumer.Ftc.Gov/articles/how-avoid-scam