Don’t get scammed

Today’s Sound Off is about a new scam to avoid:

Dear Heloise: A couple of months ago, I was the victim of an unemployment scam. I didn’t know such a thing even existed until then. Since then, I’ve read about others who were victims as well.

You can get a job doing any number of things these days, but the higher-paying jobs aren’t as easy to get, and I wanted to replace the income I had been earning before the pandemic. I found an interesting email addressed to me from an employment company that offered positions earning $50,000 and up. Where the email read, “Click here to insure correct identity,” I did just that and filled out a form. They turned out to be scammers who had my personal information. Now I’m fighting identity theft.

There are red flags to watch out for:

Beware of non-company email domains.

Do not give out any financial information, such as a credit or debit card number.

Do not give out your Social Security number.

Do not purchase any equipment or anything else required to start the position.

Above all else, research the company on Google and check their email address, or call your local FBI office to see if there were any complaints about this company. There are about 16,000 people a year who wish they had been more cautious!

If you find you’ve been a scam victim, go to www. fbi.gov/contact-us or www. consumer.ftc.gov. And if the scammers are impersonating a legitimate company, contact that company as well. — Foolish Man in El Paso

Man in El Paso, here at Heloise Central, we try to warn our readers about the pitfalls of various scammers who try to take advantage of people. Thank you for your letter. — Heloise

Fast facts

Lemons on sale? We’ve got three great ways to use them:

■ Freeze the lemon rinds and use them when you need lemon zest.

■ Squeeze all the juice out of the lemons and freeze it in ice cube trays for later use.

■ Rub the cut lemons (or the frozen lemon cubes) on your hand to get rid of fish or onion odors.

Getting my book back

Dear Heloise: I love to loan out books I’ve read, but always had a problem getting them back. Finally, I not only put my name on the front cover of the book, I also wrote under it: “Please return when you are done reading.” I used one of my business cards as a bookmark and made sure I left it in the book that was loaned out. Now I get my books back! — Peggy S., Omaha, Nebraska

Bye-bye bad weather

Dear Heloise: In this winter weather when there are so many accidents, I often take the bus to my job site. I walk about half a block from home to the bus stop, wait in a bus shelter and I get off about a block from work. The walk gives me a chance to do some exercise, and the brisk air really wakes me up in the morning. In nice weather I sometimes do the same thing and really only drive if it rains or it’s very hot outside. —