Acadia Crime Stoppers for October 30, 2018:
Whether it’s a call claiming you owe money to the IRS, a family member’s been involved in an accident and needs surgery or law enforcement will serve you with an arrest warrant if you don’t pay them, scams are taking people’s hard earned money on a daily basis.
A scam artist’s goal is to get you to listen long enough so that they convince you of the scam by putting pressure on you, making you believe something bad is going to happen if you don’t send them money immediately.
Scammers often use technology to make the phone number they are calling you from look like it is a local number, the federal government, local government or even a law enforcement agency’s number. The vast majority of phone scams originate outside of the United States, leaving law enforcement with little to no opportunity to solve these cases.
So how do we stop scams. We have to educate our citizens.
- When a call is received and the caller is soliciting money, hang up.
- If the caller is demanding, claiming you owe fees or fines, hang up
- The longer you stay on the phone with a scam artist, the better chance they have of convincing you to send them money.
- Scam artists usually have you put money on a specific type of gift card so they can retrieve the funds without having the card in their possession
Check with local law enforcement and family members to discuss what is being requested of you before acting. Be the difference.
