OPPORTUNISTS EXPLOIT YEAR 2000 APPREHENSION

WASHINGTON - When a caller told Betty Mason he would help makesure her credit card would work after Jan. 1, she pulled the cardfrom her wallet and was ready to listen.

But when he asked for her credit card number and promised to senda sticker that would make the card Y2K compliant, she balked. Masonwas wise enough to avoid being taken, but the Federal TradeCommission fears others will lose money in this and other scams tiedto fears about Year 2000 computer problems.

"It's really a new twist that someone is going to cash in on,"said Mason, of Warner Robbins, Ga. "Someone is saying we'll makemoney off this Year 2000 thing."Jodie Bernstein, director of the FTC's bureau of consumerprotection, said scam artists "move right in" to exploit change orvulnerability.The problems are not limited to credit cards."The scams that are out there are so diverse, there is no onefix-all type of solution," said Norman Willox Jr., president of theNational Fraud Center, a Philadelphia-based firm that focuses onfraud prevention and interdiction.Consumers might see an Internet ad to buy stocks from a companythat claims it has created products to thwart the millennium bug.Shareholders are assured big returns, after the third quarter, whenthe inventions hit the market.In what Willox calls a "pump and dump" scheme, consumers make aninvestment only to have the business or the goods they produce turnout to be fake.Another common scheme involves con artists calling consumers andwarning that they must move their money into a separate bank accountto protect it from millennium bug foul-ups. Pretending to berepresentatives from a bank, they ask customers for their accountnumber to move holdings. Sure enough, the money is transferred intoanother account one belonging to the caller."Obviously we're concerned about anyone using Y2K to scam people,"said Jack Gribben, spokesman for the president's Year 2000 council.He advised people concerned about the Y2K compliance of theirbanks or credit card companies to contact these institutionsdirectlyrather than responding to an impersonator who calls them and scaresthem into giving out personal financial information.The Y2K bug occurs because many computers programmed to recognizeonly the last two digits of a year may not work properly beginningJan. 1, 2000, when machines might assume it is 1900.FTC advice* Never provide personal information, including bank account orcredit card numbers, over the phone or online unless you're familiarwith the business and have initiated the contact. Scam artists canuse that information to commit fraud against you.* Be on the alert for unauthorized charges to your credit card.If you haven't authorized a charge, don't pay it dispute it. Followyour credit card issuer's procedures for disputing a charge.* Ask your financial service provider about its plans to deal withY2K. If you're uncomfortable with the response, consider doingbusiness elsewhere.* If you don't normally keep financial records, start doing so.That way you'll have proof if something happens to the computerizedrecords. At a minimum, keep a six-month paper trail three monthsbefore and after the date change on significant transactions, suchas mortgages, stocks and insurance, as well as banking and creditcard records.* Consumers can call the federal Year 2000 hotline for moreinformation at (888) USA-4-Y2K.