Census warning.

[piece-itpete]

This happened to my coworker:

I don’t want to create panic, just to share a bit of my experience lately. Recently I got in the mail a “Census “form. It asked so many questions, starting with SSN all the way to the value of my house, etc. I am a very private person so I was not going to answer all those ridiculous questions. Plus, I thought they were irrelevant to the purpose of the census which is to count all citizens and classify them in demographic groups. So I threw out the forms, kind of mad that the government dares to ask me those questions (they already have all our info, no?). I don’t even give out my SSN to my doctors’ office, and so far no one was able to force me to.

Well, last night I was watching the news and turns out that my forms were FAKE! There are a lot of Census scams out there. I am obviously glad that I did not fall for it, but also now I kick myself for destroying the papers, I would have liked to report the scam somewhere.

Today I got a chance to see a real census form at a coworker and it looks very similar to the fake I received, only fewer questions and the fake is on white paper, while the real form has some blue headings on it. So beware; there are resources online about what questions are asked, etc.

Also:

If someone comes knocking on the door for Census info (they will start knocking no earlier than May if you did not fill in the questionnaire):

· The census taker must present an ID that has a Department of Commerce watermark and expiration date. Ask for a second ID form.

· Don’t let them in the house.

· Ask the census taker for supervisor contact information and/or the local census office phone number for verification.

· A real census taker will not ask you for your Social Security number, bank account number, credit card number or any other personal financial information.

· A real census taker will never ask for donations and will never contact you by e-mail.

If you think that you have received a scam census form by mail, contact your local postal inspector.

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This public service announcement brought to you by the fine folks at etc, etc...

Pete