Residents should not be receiving Census Bureau forms yet.

While March 12 is the earliest residents could receive the questionnaires in the mail, the Department of Community and Economic Development has already seen potential scams and warns residents to be wary.

Secretary Dennis Davin reminded Pennsylvania residents to be cognizant and aware of potential 2020 Census scams and confusion.

“An accurate census is a fair census and using the 2020 Census as a way to confuse and scam residents of the commonwealth is unacceptable,” said Davin.

Susan Licate, a Census Bureau spokeswoman for southwestern Pennsylvania, said the best way to avoid scammers is by being proactive.

“There are unscrupulous people out there who wait for these types of opportunities,” Licate said.

She said samples of the mailed forms are available on the bureau's website.

“We want people to be aware of what those documents are, so they know what it looks like,” she said.

Licate said residents should report any mail that looks obviously false or fake to rumors@census.gov, adding that any literature that comes on behalf of a political party or that asks for money, credit card numbers or social security numbers is not official Census Bureau mail.

Licate said further scams could come beyond April 1 when census workers known as enumerators start going door-to-door. Again, she points out that being proactive can help people avoid such scams to a degree.

“(Our enumerators) will only visit the houses that have not already responded,” Licate said.

Licate said residents should contact local law enforcement as well as email the bureau about suspicious door-to-door interactions.

Additionally, she stressed how true enumerators will not ask for money, donations or social security numbers. “If an enumerator comes to a home, we will not come into the home or ask the homeowner any information about people not living in their home,” she said.

Licate said the bureau recruits enumerators by community to help alleviate scam concerns and also to boost response rates. She said it's easier for these interactions to take place between neighbors. “It's so important to have local people in our neighborhoods working for the census bureau. That helps everybody,” Licate said, adding that there are still job opportunities in Butler County.

The United States Constitution requires a Census count once every 10 years and counts every person living in the United States once and only once. The results of the 2020 Census will help provide fair representation when determining congressional districts, policy, decision-making and distribution of billions of dollars in federal funding that impacts the daily lives of Pennsylvanians over the next 10 years.