Straight Talk: Government impostor scam has scary new twist with threats
Better Business Bureau serving Canton Region and Greater West Virginia offers tips and advice for consumers to avoid fraudulent practices.
Scammers have long impersonated government officials, but their new tactics are more intimidating than ever before. Learn how this new twist works and avoid falling victim to it.
How the scam works
You receive a letter in the mail that looks very official. It claims to come from a court or law enforcement agency. Scammers combine personal information collected from data breaches with official looking seals and watermarks to make the correspondence seem legitimate.
The letter informs you that you have violated federal or state statutes and offers you two choices: cooperate as a witness or face indictment for serious crimes. Unfortunately, choosing to cooperate as a witness requires you to pay thousands of dollars in “legal fees.”
But scammers don’t stop there. Whether or not you respond to the letter, they follow up with a call. Con artists use scare tactics, threatening you with jail time or other serious consequences if you don’t pay up. The more you engage with these scammers, the more aggressive they may become.
One person reported this kind of experience on the BBB Scam Tracker. They said, “I received a voicemail message to return a call to the Dane County Sheriff’s office. When I called, a man said I was summoned to court and was notified by mail of this summons. I kept questioning him about this mailing. The man knew my address and middle name.”
Keep in mind that scammers impersonate all kinds of government agencies, such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Federal Emergency Management Agency.
How to avoid government impostors
Verify correspondence with government agencies. If you receive a piece of mail or a call that seems suspicious, take a step back and make sure it’s legitimate before you take any action. Call the government office directly, using the official phone number, to verify the communications are real.
Don’t engage with scammers. As soon as you know you are dealing with a scammer, cease communication. Stop answering calls, letters, or emails and block any numbers that have called you about the scam.
Report government impostor scams to the FBI. Help the Federal Bureau of Investigation catch scammers by reporting your experience to ic3.gov.
For more information
Learn more about this scam in this alert from the FBI at bit.ly/FBIGovernmentScam. For more tips on how to avoid scams, visit BBB.org/SpotAScam.
If you’ve spotted a scam (whether or not you’ve lost money), report it to BBB.org/ScamTracker. Your report can help others avoid falling victim to scams. Find more information about scams and how to avoid them at BBB.org/AvoidScams.
For BBB information
Visit bbb.org/canton or call 330-454-9401 to look up a business, file a complaint, write a customer review, read tips, find our events, follow us on social media, and more!
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Straight Talk: Government impostor scam has scary new twist with threats
