Mary Alice Reporting – Scams are again circulating and the latest includes callers pretending to be from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Office.
In these types of calls, telephone spoofing fools the caller ID into displaying a legitimate number so it appears as if it’s coming from a government agency.
For Guernsey County, the latest attempt reported includes telling the person answering that a warrant for them has been issued or that a family member is in trouble.
For the Attorney’s Office of Northern Ohio, the fake caller is portraying themselves as being an attorney, representative, or law enforcement, and during these calls, the scammer may attempt to collect money by threatening arrest or legal action.
Both agencies remind all that a government entity will never ask for a gift card or credit card number to avoid arrest or other related offense. The public is reminded to be vigilant if getting these types of calls that appear credible and to never share out personal identifying information with a caller, especially where the individual answering did not initiate the contact.
Fraudulent schemes can be reported to the Federal Trade Commission at www.reportfraud.ftc.gov.
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