U.S. Warns of Y2K ‘Protection’ Schemes

The Justice Department has posted warnings on its Web site about telemarketing schemes purporting to protect consumers from losing money as a result of potential year 2000 computer problems. Deputy Atty. Gen. Eric Holder told a news conference that individuals call up posing as employees of banks, credit card companies or even the Internal Revenue Service seeking bank, credit card or Social Security numbers. “They may say things like, ‘I’m with your bank. We’ve got Y2K problems here . . . and we need your account number so we can move your money into a special account or bond fund to protect it while we fix the problem,’ ” Holder said. “These schemes are just dressing up old-fashioned telemarketing fraud in high-tech clothing,” he said. The department’s Web pages can be found at https://www.usdoj.gov.