Census or scam? Here are 5 ways to tell the difference

ASHEVILLE - Every decade, when the residents of the United States prepare to cough up personal information for the census, scam artists work to prey upon the elderly, the misinformed and the gullible. 

Here are five ways to tell the difference between a scam and the real deal. 

1. Anything before March 2020 is not the real census. Not online, not by phone, not by mail. Nothing.
2. The census will never ask for your Social Security number, not even the last four digits.
3. The census will never ask you to register to vote or mention anything about political parties.
4. Census workers will never ask you for money, a credit card or any other financial information.
5. Census workers are required to carry a badge with their picture, an expiration date and a U.S. Department of Commerce watermark — but since most of us aren’t counterfeit experts, you can call your Regional Census Center to confirm their identity. For Asheville, that number is 470-889-6800.

If you encounter a website or receive an email that you suspect might be census fraud, don't click or download anything — just report it by forwarding the email or URL address to ois.fraud.reporting@census.gov. 

Once you receive the Census 2020 invitation by mail, it's safest to complete the census by going to the official census website (https://2020census.gov/) or calling the census hotline.