Now you See it, Now you don’t.

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The Federal Trade Commission has issued a warning to consumers that criminals are posing as government officials and asking people to use a gift card to pay a bogus tax bill or get a new Medicare card.

Questions:
1. How much money was lost to this scam in 2015?
2. How much money was lost to this scam in the first three quarters of this year?
3. What is the increase in percentage from 2015 to 2018?
4. What are the various forms of the gift card scam?
5. What are some of the red flags that people should be aware of?

Source:
Singletary, M. (2018). Is ‘the IRS’ asking you to pay by gift card? It’s the latest ‘impostor’ scam. The Washington Post, Oct. 25 (Retrievable online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/10/25/is-irs-asking-you-pay-by-gift-card-its-latest-impostor-scam/?utm_term=.b214d6f9eabc)