How to Tell If a Class Action Settlement Notice Is Real (Not Phishing)
Scammers send fake settlement notices to harvest personal information. Here are the seven signs of an authentic court-ordered notice, with side-by-side examples.
What a real settlement notice contains
An authentic court-ordered settlement notice will always contain at least the following: the case caption (the formal name of the lawsuit), the court name and judge, a clear "class definition" describing who is included, claim and exclusion deadlines, the URL of the official settlement website, and contact information for the settlement administrator. Real notices rarely use scare tactics.
Seven signs a notice is fake
- It demands payment to file the claim. Class action claims are always free for class members. Anyone asking for a "filing fee" or "release fee" is running a scam.
- It demands your full Social Security number to "verify" your identity. Most consumer settlements never require an SSN.
- It uses urgency tactics that don't match the published deadline. Real notices give months of notice; fake ones manufacture artificial twenty-four-hour deadlines.
- The URL doesn't match the official settlement website. Cross-check the URL against the case PACER docket or against ClaimAlert.
- The sender address looks slightly off. Phishers register lookalike domains. The official administrator's domain will match the URL printed on the public court-approved notice.
- It contains misspellings of the case caption or the defendant's name. Court documents go through extensive review; phishing emails do not.
- It asks you to "click here to claim" instead of describing the claim process. Real notices describe the claim process in writing first.
How to verify a notice in two minutes
Type the case name into ClaimAlert's search. If the case is real, it appears in our database with the official administrator URL. Type the URL printed in the notice into your browser yourself, never click the link in the email. If the URL doesn't resolve to a settlement page, the notice is fake.
What to do if you receive a fake notice
Do not click any links. Do not reply. Forward the email to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and to the official administrator of the underlying real settlement (if one exists). Delete the email. If you already submitted personal information in response to the fake notice, freeze your credit immediately as a precaution.
Keep reading
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