Sleazy New Text And Email Scams Targeting Montanans Says BBB

Don’t Fall for This Sneaky New Tariff Text Scam

While we're only about halfway through 2025, I have a feeling at the end of the year when Merriam-Webster announces their word of the year, it'll be tariffs.

With so much news and uncertainty surrounding the on-again, off-again tariffs, it's no surprise that scammers are finding a way to capitalize on the confusion.

Scammers Are Using “Unpaid Tariff” Warnings to Trick You

Many of us in Montana learned about tariffs in school, but how much of that did you really retain?

For those of you who don't remember, tariffs are paid by the companies when importing a good from a different company.

Said company will, more often than not, pass that cost onto the consumer, but you'll never actually pay the tariffs directly, but that's exactly what scammers are trying to trick you into doing.

You’ll Never Owe Tariffs as a Montana Consumer

The Better Business Bureau, along with Lifehacker and Forbes, is reporting that there are two scams going around taking advantage of people who don't understand how tariffs work.

The scams are pretending to be government officials informing people that they have an unpaid tariff fee and that means they'll be keeping their package until those fees are paid off, which the victim can do by clicking on their link, which leads to a real-looking but ultimately fake website.

If you happen to get one of these texts or emails, do not click on them, as you'll never have to pay the government directly as a consumer.