Imposter scams have long been among the most lucrative for scammers.  While there are many variations of this scam, the most common variations have involved scammers calling their intended victims on the telephone posing as some governmental agency such as the IRS, the Social Security Administration or your local police department  The scammer then, under a wide variety of pretenses, demands an immediate payment by gift cards, credit card or wired funds. Being asked to pay by gift cards is a definite indication that the call is a scam since no governmental agency requests or accepts payments by gift cards.   Alternatively, the scammer demands the victim supply the phony governmental agent with personal information such as your Social Security number which will then be used for identity theft purposes.

In a recent variation of this scam, The Loudon County Virginia Sheriff’s Office is reporting that large numbers of local residents were receiving robocalls purporting to be from the Sheriff’s Office informing people receiving the calls that they will be arrested  for some made up infraction unless they make payments using gift cards or cryptocurrencies through a phone number provided or a phony police website.

TIPS

As I have often reminded you, through the simple technique of “spoofing” it is very easy for a scammer to manipulate your Caller ID to make a call coming to you appear legitimate when it is not.  Therefore you can never truly trust your Caller ID.  Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.  Never provide personal information to anyone who calls you unless you have absolutely confirmed that it is legitimate.

A telltale sign that this is a scam is the fact that no law enforcement agency (along with other governmental agencies, such as the IRS) accepts payments by gift cards or cryptocurrencies.  Law enforcement agencies also do not use robocalls to contact people about infractions.

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