SAN ANTONIO — The U.S. Marshals are warning people to be aware of a scheme involving spoofed phone numbers. The U.S. Marshals Service Western District of Texas put out a release Thursday alerting the public to the tactics commonly used to trick people to sending money to con artists.
The process known as spoofing is when criminals use technology to impersonate a phone number. In this case, the caller poses as a member of law enforcement and demands money from victims.
“We want people to be aware of this scam so they can protect themselves,” said U.S. Marshal Susan Pamerleau. “The U.S. Marshal Service will never call citizens on the phone demanding money,” she said.
A common call involving a spoofed U.S. Marshals number will involve someone asking to collect a fine in lieu of arrest for failing to report for jury duty or other offenses, a spokesperson said. They then tell victims they can avoid arrest by purchasing 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.
Even if the con artist provides a badge number, names of actual officials and addresses, the U.S. Marshals said they will never ask for credit/debit card/gift card numbers, wire transfers, or bank routing numbers for any purpose. You should not purchase a prepaid debit card such as a Green Dot card or gift card and read the card number over the phone to satisfy the so-called fine from one of these calls.
If you receive one of these calls, the U.S. Marshals are urging people to report the calls to their local FBI office and file a consumer complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which has the ability to detect patterns of fraud from the information collected and share that data with law enforcement. You can remain anonymous when you report.
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