Indiana State Police Warn of Child Safety Kit Online Scam
When online it's easy to see a link and think it's harmless, but you need to be careful because you could be unknowingly giving your information to scammers. On February 26th the Indiana State Police shared a press release warning of a scam surrounding child safety kits.
The link looks like a real website where you can be sent a free child safety kit, the kit is said to help authorities find missing children. It's supposed to be a kit to collect your child's finger prints and info that could help if they ever were to go missing. However in this scam, there is no child safety kit. According to the press release from ISP they said a Fort Wayne woman clicked the link to the kit, and filled out her information, name, address, and phone number. She was then called and the scammer requested to set up a "at-home visit" thankfully the woman immediately knew something was off and contacted the authorities. She also said the scammers claimed they worked with ISP, but she was able to call ISP and verify that they did not work with this scammer.
This isn't a new scam either, according to WDRB in Louisville this scam actually happened in 2019 here in Evansville, where a man actually showed up to one resident's home after she filled out the child safety kit form online. Thankfully the authorities were contacted and no one was hurt.
ISP shares the following tips so you can avoid becoming scammed on the internet:
- ALWAYS consider any unsolicited internet/social media transaction with a “Buyer Beware”
- NEVER provided personal or financial information to an unknown source, whether it be on the internet, by email, or by phone.
- NEVER invite or allow a stranger into your home, especially an unsolicited sales person- thieves commonly use this as a way to case your home for future burglary.
- Don’t be INTIMIDATED by a scammer’s pervasiveness. Delete the internet conversation or just hang up the phone when something doesn’t feel right.
- If you feel you have been victimized by a scammer, suspicious or threatening activity should be reported to your local law enforcement immediately.
Safewise.com has a really great article on how you can make your own child safety kit at home. This is a great way to make sure you have all of your child's information in one place, including their fingerprints. Hopefully you will never have to use the safety kit, but you can at least have some peace of mind knowing it's there.
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