to see how much you could save now. hi, everyone. welcome to "on the money." i'm contessa brewer in for beck see quick. no safety in numbers. how scammers can get to your tax returns and the new way they are striking. >> you name it, they'll sell it. spring has sprung for most of the country and that might mean it's time to put your house on the market. the best month, week, and even day to list your house. they do a whole lot more than sell cookies these days. how girl scouts have moved into the 21st century. and the new sport where the best training is playing video games. really. "on the money" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "on the money," your money, your life, your future. we begin with your taxes. if you haven't filed yet, a

cybercriminal could beat you to it. they could file in your name and then steal your refund. that's only one way fraudsters are trying to get your money. andrea day has this story. >> reporter: your w-2 could be for sale on the dark web. ibm took us into the online marketplaces criminals use to buy and sell private information. >> you name it, they'll sell it. >> reporter: the stores look like legitimate websites and even include ratings for sellers. >> traded a model that you can trust in an untrusted environment. >> reporter: and he says this season, a rush on w-2s, like these for sale right now. >> it's people with high wages, so you should have higher tax returns. >> reporter: so how did the bad guys get their hands on your w-2? in one scheme, they send an e-mail that looks like it's from the irs or a tax provider. if you click on the link, you're just giving data away.

>> we've seen a 400% increase in the number of e-mails going out that has tax scams. >> reporter: in another plot, they pretend to be a top exec at your company. >> someone in the hr department or finance department gets what looks like an e-mail from the ceo saying i need all of the w-2s for our employees. send them along to me. >> reporter: criminals can su the w-2s and claim the refund even before you file. and there's more. the undercover crooks are also sending e-mails that look exactly like the tax return you've been expecting. but -- >> if you click on that, you get infected and infect yourself with a form of malware that can do anything from harvesting your banking credentials to stealing personal information to locking down your computer, ransomware style. >> reporter: these types of frauds are growing. there's good news. the irs says it's getting better at figuring out what claims are legit before money is handed

over to the swidlers. >> if a computer is filing 30 returns, that's probably by a criminal. >> reporter: and the best advice, never click on any link, even if the e-mail you got looks legit. go straight to the website instead. if you get an e-mail that looks like it's from the irs, just delete it. if there's ever an issue, that agent will start the process with a letter in the mail. i'm andrea day for "on the money." cybercriminals crashed in nearly $2 billion in fraudulent tax returns last year. the better business bureau director is joining me. i'm sure this is worrisome for you. when it comes to tax time, how do people know if they've been the victim of a scam like this? >> with these scams, often people don't know until the irs rejects their return and they reject it because somebody else has filed. >> how do you prevent them from getting your refund?

>> they're going to do what they're going to do. protect yourself as you would with any identity theft situation. make sure you're protecting your social security number, don't click on links or open attachments. you may receive phishing e-mails related to that. >> why do you think these kind of tax scams are so popular after we've been hearing forever about phishing e-mails? >> as a matter of fact, 25% of the scams reported related to tax scams and these go on all year long where people receive calls harassing them pretending to be the irs, threaten them with arrests, that sort of thing. >> who is most vulnerable? >> surprisingly, most people believe it's the elderly but what we see is that young people are four times more likely to have reported losing money to those scams. >> we heard andrea day say the irs is not going to e-mail you

or call you. they are going to send you a letter in the mail as a first step. could that change? >> you will still get a letter in the mail as a first step. in fact, you'll get several letters. ultimately, things are changing. the irs is beginning to use private debt collectors starting this month and this is very new. we're concerned about the confusion it may create because people have been receiving these scam phone calls for so long, pretending to be the irs. >> and the message is then, just hang up, it's not the irs. >> right. >> it could theoretically be a debt collector but hold off, assuming that that is the case, it's highly unlikely that you would receive a call from a debt collector unless you had had ongoing debt for an extended period of time and the irs has contacted you numerous times. the big thing to remember is how are you making payments? if you are going to irs.gov to make a payment or you're writing a check or money order to the u.s. treasury, that's the right way to pay.

>> if someone asks you for an itunes gift card, you're probably not paying the irs. >> that's a big red tag right there. that's how the scammers like to receive their payments. another one would be wire trans transfers. watch out for the method of payment. >> thank you so much. >> it's been great. more than 2 million people take to the skies every day in the united states and that number is expected to rise. translates into more jobs, of course. kate rogers is at lovefield in dallas where southwest airlines is hanging out the help wanted sign. >> reporter: with 20 years on the job at southwest as a ramp agent, shawn parker is hoping for 20 more. >> i'm responsible for making sure the passengers' luggage against transported to the proper destination. i'm response bld for making sure the aircraft gets turned on time and responsible for safety for me and the fellow crew around me. >> reporter: at southwest, ramp

agents can make around $30 an hour with an opportunity for overtime. the company currently employs 19,000 and hired only 2% out of 116,000 applicants foreground ops positions in 2016. >> we are picky. we hire for attitude and train for skill. >> reporter: the perks for ramp agents like shawn parker include free travel for themselves and their families, 401(k) matches and profit sharing but the job is very physical. parker spent the majority of his time outdoors, rain or shine. >> you put 35-degree weather with rain and heavy loads and it can get very chaotic. >> reporter: shawn loves having the ability to set his own schedule. he even worked as a police officer while working as a ramp agent for about ten years and the flexibility also allowed him and other southwest employees to put together a band called the blue 22s and they would fly to l.a. for free, of course, on the weekends to play gigs.

contessa, back over to you. >> i think it's interesting when people live established careers or integrate it into their existing ones. he mentioned how physical the job is. how long can you continue to do that if you're transitioning into adulthood? >> reporter: he's been doing this for 20 years. he started at age 19 and is almost 40. he's in the gym, takes care of himself and makes sure he's staying in shape and physically healthy. who knows, maybe another 20 and he might call it quits. he's training people now so maybe he's not doing as much of the labor. it's a tough job but has good perk gls thank you. appreciate that. >> thank you. up next, we are "on the money," selling your house, the best month, week and even the day to list it to get the best price. and later, 100 years of cookies, camping and confidence. how the girl scouts are teaching those skills and more. and now a look at how the

stock market ended the week.

here's a look at what's making news as we head into a new week "on the money." a disappointing jobs report for march. the economy created just 98,000 jobs last month, about half of what was expected. harsher winter weather may be to blame for slow hiring and retail and construction were weak. but the unemployment rate fell to 4.5%. the lowest since may of 2007. there are two different surveys for each number which may help explain the disparity. that help push stocks down on friday after a topsy-turvy week. the nasdaq reached a high but didn't hold it. stocks were lower on thursday.

if you watched thursday night football online, you'll be heading to amazon. the company's won the rights to stream games in the united states and is making a high-profile push to attract fans to its amazon prime shopping site. twitter had the streaming rights last year. the games will be broadcast by cbs and nbc. the spring housing market got off to a slow start in much of the nation as a late burst of winter combined with a shortage of homes for sale kept buyers at bay. now spring is in full swing, which is traditionally a strong time to sell. does the change in season mean a change in sentiment? diana olick has more. >> reporter: of course spring is the best time to sell a home, right? the warm air brings us outside in the blooming blossoms suggesting change. the perfect time to make that move. or is it? >> i think any time of year is okay as long as your expectations are correct. >> reporter: veteran real estate

agent has weathered a lot of seasons in the housing market and notes that while more homes are listed in the spring, offering more choice for buyers, that also means more competition for sellers. she suggests a different strategy. >> if you're in the winter market, then you know that there's not much out. you're going to be one of two or three houses and you're going to get almost every one in your price range looking at your house. >> reporter: she held an open house for agents, a new listing that came on as the d.c. cherry bloos somes finally came out. she expected it to sell in a week, not because it's spring but because she's playing the spring market right. >> so in the spring, know that you have lots of competition. you better be in perfect condition and really well-priced because buyers have lots of options. >> reporter: if you're jumping into the spring competition, even the timing during the season can be critical, said one of the agents touring fairweather's listing. >> i would get it early on the spring market. even better.

because there are less homes on the market and more people. people start going crazy usually end of february, beginning of march. >> reporter: and location matters as well. some markets look like this in the spring. >> hi, how are you? >> reporter: but others can still look like this. >> typically, the peak of the season is between now and june or july. warmer markets tend to start earlier. colder markets, as far as temperature, start to go a little bit later. >> reporter: and there are as many opinions on timing as there are listings on the market. some even take it right down to the day. thursday is apparently the best time to list because that's when the most people online are looking at listings getting ready to go out to open houses over the weekend. you list on saturday, you're already too late. contessa? >> you showed us the different ways that spring looks in different parts of the country where in some places there are still snow on the ground. what about the kind of house you're selling? does that play at all into when is the best season to sell?

>> reporter: absolutely. it's about five, specifically. when you have a large house like this one, you want to list it in the spring. that's when families are out looking because they want to move over the summer. they don't want to disrupt the school year. they won't be looking in the fall. if you have a smaller house, you want a single buyer or a couple without kids. you want to list that house in the fall. >> diana olick, thank you. up next, "on the money," girl scouts have sold cookies for 100 years. this year, 200 million boxes sold brings in $800 million. so where does all of that money go s go? and later, professional drone racing. right. it's a thing. you're going to meet the man behind the fast-paced and

this is the 100th year of girl scouts that have been selling those cookies but cookie sales are just one part of the lessons. today's girl scouts are learning. the ceo of the girl scouts of

the usa is joining me. we're fascinated by your story because you were a girl scout yourself. how old were you when you started? >> i was 7 years old when i started. >> you really credit that as being a pivotal moment for your future career success. why? >> that completely changed my life for a couple things. one is, my troop leader saw my potential and she was somebody outside of my family, my adults who helped me see opportunities beyond what was available in my tight-knit latino family. she saw that i could be a scientist and encouraged me to earn my science badge and then also selling cookies, that was fantastic, too, because it taught me that you could create your own opportunity. >> the cookies are the big story. everybody knows the girl scout cookies. what are the girls learning from it? >> this is the great thing. it really is a program to teach them the kind of life skills that they need to be an entrepreneur. it teaches them how to set goals, create budgets, and then

figure out what you're going to -- how you're going to serve your customers, great customer service and the other great thing is all the money stays locally. it doesn't come to national. that's what allows girls to have these amazing outdoor experiences, to have those outdoor camps or to have those take action projects in their own community. >> research shows that americans are underprepared for their financial transactions, and you're changing that by having girls involved with financial transactions early on? >> absolutely. we have $850 million business that all happens with girls and they are learning how to make change, they are learning how to ask for their order, how to set budgets. they create projects and then they have to figure out how am i going to fund the project? and that's all financial management. >> okay. so when we're talking about great business skills, one little girl got a lot of viral traction this year when she wrote a very honest letter to her customers rating girl scout

cookies, which were worth their money and which weren't. her sales exploded. >> we love the honesty. >> right. >> that's fantastic. boy, what an entrepreneur. that's what we love. we know that our essence is what we call g-i-r-l. she was all of those things. we love that kind of innovative thinking. >> so the girl scouts are seeing membership declining. what can you do to reverse that? >> well, we're really excited about the things that we're doing. we're putting in a digital backbone so squirrgirl scouting- we can be where girls are, on mobile devices. but we're never going to get away from the outdoor and face-to-face experience, which girls love and see that they want in girl scouting. what i'm really excited about is we're starting to change those numbers. we're seeing our volunteer numbers turn around and they are positive. we're seeing our daisy recruitment no longer declining but it's actually flat. our retention numbers are up.

we're really making sure that we give girls the programs that they need and want. >> and we know how important that is as grown women to have a caring adult tell you you can do anything that your mind can conceive. thank you so much for coming in and sharing the girl scout story with us. >> thank you very much. up next, "on the money," a look at the news for the week ahead and the new pro sport that may look like a video game but watch closely here. it's not. catch him if you can.

here are the stories coming up that may have an impact on your money this week. monday is report card day for the major airlines with the release of the national airline quality ratings. tuesday, we'll see how optimistic small business owners are when the national federation of independent business releases its monthly survey. and show your pet how much you love them. do we really need this? i mean, isn't it every day national pet day? on friday, we get a read on the strength of the consumer with the retail sales figures from march. and the markets are closed for the observance of good friday. and here's a sport you probably have never heard of. professional drone racing. and it is growing just as fast as those drones fly. joining me now is nicolas, the founder and ceo of the drone racing league.

nicolas, great to see you. >> thank you. >> give me a sense, drones racing, how does it work? >> it's just like formula 1 but in the air. we take very high-speed drones, bring in the best pilots of the world and race then around three-dimensional courses. >> the three-dimensional part is really interesting because, of course, every race course is three-dimensional but you are using elevation, not just linear surfaces. >> absolutely. they can fly in every dimension. we have high gates, low gates, huge climbs, big dives. and it creates a different racing to be able to use the three dimensions. >> and the drones have cameras on them so you are getting a pilots' eye view? >> yes. it feeds the video to a pair of goggles that the pilots wear. it's like they are sitting in the cockpit of the drone. >> give me a sense of why you thought of this. why did you think the world needed a professional drone racing league. >> drone racing has been around for five years as an amateur

sport and has a global following. it's very into drone racing and we thought it was time to bring it to the mainstream. we built the league so we could introduce the whole world to this cool technology-enabled sports. >> you build the drones? >> we do. we build all of the technology related to the league. designed the circuit boards in it. what it allows us to do is give every pilot an identical drone. it levels the playing field. by all of them flying the same drone, you know it's the pilot and not the drone. >> when people are watching it now, you've paired up with major television networks. >> uh-huh. >> for this. why not just stream it all online? >> well, we want to build the next major sport and so being with networks like espn here in the united states and sky sports over the in the uk and germany, it gives the sport a lot of credibility and gives us a huge audience. there's no one in the sports world that has a reach of those kinds of networks. >> where does drone racing stand

in terms of getting younger interest? >> that's one of the things, it attracts a young audience. audiences are predominantly 18 to 25 years old. >> and there's an app for fans as well that they can get on and get sort of the experience of what it's like to be a drone pilot? >> yeah, absolutely. we built a highly realistic video game simulator. it's free on our website. download it. we use it for tryouts. we paired up with bud light last year and people can try out with a video game and live video game competition. the winner of that had a $75,000 a year contract and is now flying in the league. from a gamer to pro athlete in a few weeks. >> clearly you're finding a fan base because 28 million people watched this. i'm contessa brewer in for becky. thank you for watching. next week, what the irs looks for that could be a trigger. each week, we are "on the

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right now on nbc10 news today, a community on edge and looking for answers as police continue to look for a predator who they say kidnapped and sexually assault added a 4-year. a fire under a bridge yesterday. and christians here in philadelphia and around the world are celebrating palm sunday. today's observance starts off holey week leading to easter next week.