Be cautious about who you talk to on your phone, as you may be scammed. That’s the latest message from the FBI. The warning includes thieves impersonating federal agents threatening arrest. This is how you should deal with it if it happens to you.
In early June, the FBI Cleveland office issued a new warning to US citizens. Scammers are spoofing, meaning imitating, FBI phone numbers nationwide, and impersonating government agents.
“Victims are tricked into thinking an arrest is imminent unless they send money. If you believe you have been a victim of this scam,” the FBI Cleveland wrote on June 2.
The Nashville branch added: “The FBI will never call you demanding money to get out of criminal charges. It’s a scam. Hang up and visit the FBI’s ic3.gov to file a report.”
The scamming attacks have not been limited to federal agencies; reports of scams have been local and nationwide throughout the years.
On June 2, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) put out a public advisory, saying “citizens should report suspicious calls to the ATF at 1-888-ATF-TIPS or the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.” If someone were to become a victim, they should “contact local law enforcement immediately” after reports about scam calls where people impersonated their agents became known.
It further stated that ATF attacks impersonating its agents instruct victims to “purchase Apple gift cards in amounts of $500 or $1,000 to ‘clear a red flag’ from their accounts. Victims are then asked to provide gift card numbers to the callers.”
The ATF wrote that they will never “call or email private citizens to demand payment or threaten arrest. You will not be asked to wire a ‘settlement’ to avoid arrest; ask you to use large sums of your own money to help catch a criminal; request you send money via wire transfer to foreign accounts, cryptocurrency, or gift/prepaid cards; [or] call you about ‘frozen’ Social Security numbers or to coordinate inheritances.”
The FBI has warned that scammers employ a variety of approaches. However, in the end, they “all exploit intimidation tactics” where they use “an urgent and aggressive tone, refusing to speak to or leave a message with anyone other than their targeted victim.” Moreover, they have also been known to warn victims “not to tell anyone else, including family, friends, or financial institutions.”
In late June, US Marshals also issued a warning, alerting people that attacks from scanners had increased.
The US Marshals will “NEVER call you to collect money or resolve a court case,” it read, per Forbes, warning that scammers use “real USMS names” in their attacks. “HANG UP,” they further said, “and REPORT to your local FBI office.”
Please share this article on Facebook with your friends and family and spread the word about these horrific scams. Hopefully, it can lead to fewer people getting scammed.
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