Scams seem everywhere these days, even on social media. They are not something you would take part in and perpetuate on another person, so why are people, maybe even the police, now accusing you of scamming others?
One reason may be that someone else is masquerading as you. Here is a look at that reason and a few others.
Identity theft
There are many ways to take on someone else’s identity. On a social media platform such as Facebook, all someone really needs to do is get some of your pictures, open a new Facebook account in your name and send friend requests to your friends. Thinking it is you, they accept and may say “yes” if the person pretending to be you asks them for money.
Company culture
It might be possible that you participated in a scam at work without realizing it. Perhaps the company you work for was not doing so hot one year, so your boss told you to change some of the accounting to shift debts to the next year and to count some income as coming in this year. “All perfectly legal,” he assured you after you expressed doubt, and you had no reason not to believe him.
Tax return claims
When you file your taxes, the language and forms can be bewildering sometimes. Even if you go through an online third-party filer, the process is not always free of mistakes. You could have accidentally claimed a deduction you were not entitled to or estimated expenses instead of actually adding them up.
As an aside, it can be easy to think of whatever you do on your tax return as not scamming since you give up a lot of money to the government already. However, not reporting income, inflating your deductions and other moves can absolutely land you in hot water.
Product or service claims
If you are involved in something such as multilevel marketing, you have to be careful what claims you make about your product or service. Avoid promises and scientific claims, which, of course, can be hard to do if a product has helped you a lot.