Warning issued on census scam

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Secretary of State Ross Miller and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto say scammers are trying to use the upcoming census count to steal people's personal and financial information.

They said the scams include official looking requests for financial information and can come in the mail, e-mail or even a knock on the door.

They said they want Nevadans to participate in the 2010 census.

"Unfortunately, scammers are using the opportunity of the 2010 census to illegally obtain personal information from our citizens," Masto said.

She emphasized that the U.S. Census Bureau is asking only for demographic information, never personal information like social security, bank or credit card numbers.

Miller said participation is important since every missed resident costs the state nearly $10,000 over the next decade in federal funding. But he said everyone has to watch out for crooks who try to take advantage of the count.

Census questionnaires will begin arriving at homes in March. Census workers will start knocking on doors in late March, working through May to ask those who didn't return the census forms to participate. But Miller said those workers never make contact by e-mail and will have a badge identifying them when visiting homes.