QUESTION: A company advertises a service to recover money lost to a scammer. Should I call?

ANSWER: No. The Federal Trade Commission recently warned of scammer’s attempts to bilk victims a second time by promising to recover money lost through a prize scheme, bogus product offers, and wire or check fraud. Some scammers even claim to represent government agencies. You can avoid these and similar cons when you:

Refuse to pay up front. If any business requires advance payment, you should be skeptical.

Refuse to give personal information, especially to an unknown or unexpected text, phone call or email.

Do your own investigation. Type the organization name or contact information into your favorite search engine to check for known scams with this format: “Business name complaint” or “Business name scam.”

Finally, if you think you’re being scammed or a scam is being perpetrated, report it to the FTC immediately.

Source: FTC.gov