Yes, you and I are waaaaay too savvy to fall for the old “I’m calling from the government and you had better pay up” trick.
Unfortunately, others are not, especially among the elderly.
So the Federal Trade Commission is once again asking for help getting the word out:
We’re hearing from our colleagues that those pesky government imposters are at it again, using the FTC’s name to try to con people into paying them for something. Whether it’s to clean up your credit report, give you a prize, resolve a complaint against you, or pay off a debt you owe, they’re all lies. The message may be a call or an email, but it isn’t from the Federal Trade Commission, or any other federal agency.
They’re scammers … always.
As long as the scammers keep posing as government officials, we’ll keep putting out warnings like this one. But we need your help to spread the word. Talk to your friends. Tweet it. Post to your social networks. Blog about it. You just might help someone you care about avoid falling for a scam.
This didn’t take long. And I’ll put it on Facebook, not that I’m saying any of my Facebook friends are lacking in the street-smarts department. (Insert wink emoji here.)
Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent buzzblog items. And, if you’d like to receive Buzzblog via e-mail newsletter, here’s where to sign up. You can follow me on Twitter here and on Google+ here.

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