Officials warn residents of scammers impersonating law enforcement officers
Acting United States Attorney M. Rhett DeHart and Federal Bureau of Investigations Special Agent in Charge Susan Ferensic say South Carolinians, particularly those in the Lowcountry and Pee Dee Region, should be on alert for scammers impersonating law enforcement to steal money and identities of victims. It has been recently reported that callers will “spoof,” or fake their phone numbers, so the calls appear to come from a local police department. They will also provide information like the names of actual law enforcement officers and badge numbers. These scammers sometimes research professional and personal information of the victim, on social media or other open-information sources, to gain trust or make their schemes more believable. When trust is established, the scammers will attempt to collect money with prepaid debit cards like GreenDot MoneyPak or gift cards to rectify whatever situation the victims are told they are in – such as failing to report for jury duty, failure to appear as an expert witness to a court hearing, or other offenses. The scammers then stay on the phone with the victim, while the victim is instructed to purchase and until the victim provides the prepaid debit card to satisfy the fine. Although these types of scams have historically targeted the elderly, the recent iteration has primarily focused on professionals, including threatening professionals with the loss of their professional credentials in addition to the identity and monetary theft. “The best defense to these scams is knowledge and vigilance,” said Ferensic. “Citizens should understand law enforcement will not demand payment of money by way of phone call or email. Suspicious solicitations of this type should be reported to the police or IC3.GOV, a website maintained by the FBI. We will continue to investigate these complaints and track down the perpetrators.” To avoid falling victim to such crimes and to help prevent further fraud of this type, DeHart offers the following tips: — Make your social media accounts private and only accept requests and messages from people you know. — Be wary of answering phone calls from unrecognizable numbers. — Call, on another phone, the number that you were called from to confirm the legitimacy of the caller and reason for the call. — Know that a police department or law enforcement officer will never solicit money – particularly through gift cards – from the public. — Never give your personal information, including banking information – to someone over the phone. —Do not send money to people or organizations that you do not personally know and trust. — If you receive a call that appears to be government impersonation fraud, disconnect without providing any personal information and without adhering to the caller’s instructions. — Contact your local police department immediately to report the fraud by calling 911. — Submit complaints to the FBI at ic3.gov and the Federal Trade Commission, which collects fraud reports nationwide, at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
