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Consumer Concerns: Coupons, credit cards and caller ID

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E-coupons are convenient but could they be another tool helping scammers take advantage of you?

Viewer Danny let me know that he receives e-coupons from Fry's every week. This week the email offered extra fuel points so she was ready to use it. 

Problem is a new screen popped up "asking to verify my account by putting in a credit card number & info from it," she writes.  

Danny thought that was weird. She was right.

Fry's tells me it does email coupons but never, ever asks for credit card information. Could be a virus on Danny's computer, could be a copy cat email, either way--something is wrong.

Fortunately Danny recognized that and called the store to verify whether or not the credit card prompt was real. An even better idea is to go directly to the store's website for coupons, that way you know exactly where they came from.

Spoofed Business Numbers

Have you gotten a call from Century Link lately?
Viewer Danielle says her called id showed the company was on the other end of the line, but she immediately got suspicious. The caller wanted to "update" her modem, and needed her to get online to do it. That's strange. So she called her brother--who happens to work in IT. He confirmed "they were trying to gain remote access to her computer."

We've seen this before but usually the scammers are pretending to be from Microsoft Windows. Regardless of who they claim to be, letting them into your computer will be a disaster. Danielle didn't let them in, and neither should you. So if you get the call, hang up and call your provider to confirm that they actually contacted you.

Community Legal Services Celebrates a Milestone

And we give a big shout out to our friends at Community Legal Services.

The non-profit organization just celebrated its 65th anniversary.

They offer legal aid to lower income Arizonans who may not be able to afford it on their own.

And they've helped more than 400,000 in the last 20 years alone.

Click here for more on Community Legal Services.