(WBAP/KLIF) This holiday season the phone scams are back and higher than normal. Phone scammers are attempting to take your hard earned money.The U.S. Marshals want you and everyone you know to be on alert to avoid being scammed. U.S. Marshal Rick Taylor, of the Northern District of Texas, says that spreading the word can help prevent the next scam: “tell your family, tell your friends, tell your co-workers, tell your colleagues, about this [the phone scams] and tell them not to fall victim to this because it happens to people of all groups.”
If you feel or think you have been involved in a phone scam, you’re urged to report the call(s) to your local U.S. Marshals Service office as well as the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC is able detect patterns of fraud from the information gathered and share that same information the authorities.
If you’re unfamiliar with a what a phone scam may sound like, during those type of calls, scammers will try to get you to pay a fine to avoid an arrest for things like: failing to report for jury duty or other offenses. Scammers will then tell victims that they can avoid an arrest/being arrested by buying a prepaid debit card such as a Green Dot card or gift card and read the card number over the phone to satisfy the fine.
A report from the U.S. Marshals adds that “scammers use many tactics to sound credible. They sometimes provide information like badge numbers, names of actual law enforcement officials and federal judges, and courthouse addresses. They may also spoof their phone numbers to appear on caller ID as if they are calling from the court or a government agency.”
If you believe you were a victim of such a scam, you are encouraged to report the incident to your local U.S. Marshals Service office and to the FTC. Reports can even be made anonymously.
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