James Marasco, BridgeTower Media Newswires
If you’re like me, you may sit around and ponder the rumors or myths you have heard and wonder whether they hold any truth. In some cases, it may be clients or students who pose some of these interesting questions. I decided to address a few questions from a fraud prevention perspective.
Do airline/travel sites really switch ticket prices the longer you browse on sites or login from the same IP address?
An internet cookie is a file stored on your computer that records specific data from the site you have visited. Some cookies are lost once your browser closes; others last a lot longer. It’s been said often that airline and travel booking sites use internet cookies to raise prices on prospective customers.
According to rumor, if you check prices on several different airline sites, when you return to the original one your fare may be higher than originally quoted. I’ve recently heard a radio personality telling people to change their Google Chrome settings and clear the browsing history to protect you from this practice.
Through my research, including a review of a study conducted by a prominent university, there was no conclusive evidence indicating that sites alter prices based on browsing history. It’s quite possible that your ticket price increased in the interim, but that is more likely due to supply and demand rather than the airlines trying to take advantage of a prospective customer.
Are all credit card receipts earned by businesses and contractors reported to the government?
There are still some small businesses that refuse to accept credit/debit cards, often with a sign at the door that reads, “Cash Only.” Some are so helpful—they offer an ATM machine charging an exorbitant surcharge so you can withdraw cash to give back to them. What are they afraid of?
Well, in 2011, the government started requiring third-party payment providers to issue an annual 1099-K to recipients receiving at least $20,000 or 200 or more transactions from credit/debit cards, PayPal or other payment sources. In addition to being reported to the recipient, they are also reported to the federal government.
What’s interesting is that a 1099-Miscellaneous is required to be filed for payments made to noncorporate recipients receiving $600 or more. But for credit cards, the threshold is raised to $20,000. Therefore, an Uber driver receiving $19,990 or having less than 200 transactions in a given year may not have their credit card receipts reported to the government.
Now that we can scan checks into our bank accounts from our smartphones and scanning devices, can the same check be scanned into separate bank accounts?
I tried this myself to experiment for a class I was teaching. I wrote a check to my business and had them scan it in with their normal deposit; the check was cashed.
Since this particular bank’s scanning equipment didn’t mark the check, I had our clerk scan the same check two weeks later into a new bank. Interestingly enough, the new bank’s scanning equipment marks the checks once they are scanned for deposit, which prevents them from being re-deposited. However, within a couple of days, the second bank informed us that the check presented for deposit could not be honored, which was reassuring.
Even more encouraging: We didn’t get charged a fee!
Will traffic infractions in one state go against my driver’s license in the state in which I reside?
The common belief has held that if you get caught speeding in one state and pay a fine, your home state is not notified. As technology advanced, certain groups of states started sharing information. Some truck drivers began to accumulate driver’s licenses in more than one state to hide multiple infractions.
However, with the advances of technology, nearly every state now shares driver license activity; New York State, along with about half of the others, has started sharing picture images as well. According to a U.S. News article, a minimum of 117 million adults have been entered into this network, which is shared with law enforcement.
By matching images across databases of registered drivers, states have been able to identify individuals using aliases, committing identity theft, illegally collecting benefits, voting and maintaining driver’s licenses in more than one state. New York uses a 128-point facial recognition system. According to their website, they have arrested more than 3,600 individuals for possessing multiple licenses since implementation.
As for those points on your license, states treat them differently. Some states assess points from out-of-state infractions; others just note it on your record. The bad news is your insurance company will see it regardless. If it’s serious enough and the visiting state revokes your license, there’s a good chance your home state will as well.
Are appliances really spying on us?
Wi-fi technology now exists in door locks, TV’s, thermostats and refrigerators. They are called “smart” devices because they are connected to the internet.
In the summer of 2016, hackers commandeered internet-connected video recording gadgets—such as baby monitors and home security cameras—to send a massive amount of traffic to popular websites, which created outages. This breach did not appear nefarious. However, you can safeguard against some of these attacks by changing the default passwords and staying current with software patches and updates.
If you maintain an Amazon Echo and Google Home, recognize that they capture and record conversations within listening range of the microphones and send that data to the cloud for storage and analysis similar to a Fitbit or Apple Watch.
Do car rental agencies monitor how and where you drive?
In 2015, various news sources ran stories alerting consumers that Hertz had installed cameras in one-eighth of their fleet as part of their NeverLost dashboard assistant. Stories quickly followed that smaller rental agencies were charging customers for crossing state lines or routinely exceeding posted speed limits.
The truth is car rental companies all have manufacturer installed technology that allows for vehicle monitoring, tracking, etc. However, the major agencies have indicated they only obtain this information in rare circumstances or upon court order. Hertz also defended that they didn’t have the bandwidth or resources to activate the cameras that were installed in their vehicles.
Any monitoring of this type is required to be disclosed in your renter’s agreement. However, smaller agencies that are less risk tolerant continue to take advantage of this technology.
Consumers should be more concerned about plugging their phones into the vehicles (Apple CarPlay, etc.) and having their personal information transfer into the vehicle for the next renter or agency to obtain.
Before turning the vehicle back in, it is recommended that you delete any information that may have transferred.
Will the IRS really send over the police to arrest me for income taxes supposedly due?
This is a good one to end on. A client called in desperation the other day, indicating he received a telephone call informing him that he owed the IRS money and if he didn’t pay immediately, they were dispatching the police to arrest him.
At least he was smart enough to get their number and say he needed to consult with his accountant first. If you have a tax discrepancy involving the federal government, they will send notices to your address first.
If you’re married, you may receive separate notices to the same address. They won’t threaten to “dispatch the police.”
That’s not to say that Treasury Agents don’t show up unannounced at a business. But that’s rare and the circumstances are more complicated. If you receive a call like this, don’t reveal any personal or credit card information—ask for their number and hang up. You can report them to the FTC or the IRS.
In my case, I tried the number my client provided. By the time I called them back, the line had already been disconnected!
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James I. Marasco, CPA, CIA, CFE, is a partner with EFPRGroup.
