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Entry bubble Census 2010: Don't Be a Scam Victim

By: Joanne | October 20, 2009 | Category: Home and Family

hand holding a pen filling out a formYou’re probably aware that the Census Bureau is gearing up for the 2010 census, and you can bet there are people with bad intentions that will try to use the census as an opportunity to steal your personal information. I’ve already read reports that the scammers are getting started.

People contact us all the time about e-mail scams and fraud schemes. Sometimes fraudulent e-mails are even sent by someone posing as a government agency, so be careful and if you’re ever in doubt, check it out.

In March 2010 the Census Bureau will mail or deliver census forms to every household in the United States. It’s important that you know the difference between the official forms, and forms or e-mails that might be a scam.

Here are some highlights of the Census 2010 schedule:

  • February – March 2010: Census questionnaires are mailed or delivered to households.
  • April – July 2010: Census takers visit households that did not return a questionnaire by mail.

So keep yourself informed, and stay one step ahead of the scammers!

| View Comments [9] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: 2010   census   fraud   joanne   scam  

Comments (9):

blue comment bubble Posted by Thomas on October 20, 2009 at 06:52 PM EDT

Thank you Joanne for doing this post.

It is amazing how many e-mail scams there are out there claiming to be from the government. It is amazing how many e-mails I have received from the IRS and from the FBI telling me I have money coming to me.

The one thing that worries me about the census, is that the scam artist will act like census worker and ring your door bell and somewhere in their questions they will ask you some financial questions that will allow them access to a persons bank account. It could be hard for someone to verify that the person is a scam artist.

Thomas

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 21, 2009 at 09:41 AM EDT

You're right - any time a stranger is knocking on your door, there's the potential for trouble. Census workers can be identified by a census badge and bag. Just like it's smart to ask for ID before allowing a utility worker in your home, you can ask the same of a Census worker before you answer any questions.
btw - Thomas, did you get an error message when you were trying to submit your comment yesterday evening? Our software has been giving us some trouble and we're working to sort it out.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Thomas on October 21, 2009 at 10:47 AM EDT

Joanne, I did have some problems trying to post my response. After getting a bunch of error messages, I stopped trying to post a response and decided to try latter in the day. Latter in the day when I tried again it worked just fine.

It seems to be having the same problem today. I wonder if it has to do with the browser I am using. When I first tried yesterday, I was using internet explore. Last night I used safari. Lets see if it will post under fire fox.

Thomas

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blue comment bubble Posted by Thomas on October 21, 2009 at 10:51 AM EDT

It worked with fire fox. I normally use internet explore 8.0 during the day because the programs I use during the day will not work on fire fox or safari.

Thomas

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 21, 2009 at 11:30 AM EDT

ok - I'm sorry for the trouble. We've got the techies working on it.

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blue comment bubble Posted by alan on October 21, 2009 at 07:45 PM EDT

my mom and sister have already been aproached by persons saying they were from the cenus,also taking GPS readings,can this be right?

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blue comment bubble Posted by thuey on October 24, 2009 at 09:16 PM EDT

What if we refuse to provide answers to some of the census questions?

Tyler Thueson

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 26, 2009 at 02:33 PM EDT

alan,
The Census Bureau did have people out in the communities in the spring verifying addresses, so it's possible that these people were legit. Still, I recommend asking anyone who claims to be a census worker to produce ID before answering personal questions. Remember, the real census workers will have ID.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 26, 2009 at 02:38 PM EDT

Hi Tyler - I looked up your question and learned something new. According to the Census Bureau website, we're required by law to answer the questions and answer them truthfully. The law has provisions for fines if you don't answer questions or knowingly lie. Here's the url of their FAQ page, where you can read more about it. Sorry I didn't hyperlink the url, my software won't all me to.

Census 2010 FAQ's
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/how/questions.php

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