Now those scammers are posing as government agencies
Source: consumer.ftc.gov Release Time: 09:50:50 2019-08-12
If you receive a call from the Social Security Administration. Or the US Internal Revenue Service. Or medical insurance. Or any other agency call. Once the caller threatens you or asks you to pay them with a gift card or by remittance, you know. This is a scam. Even the caller ID tells you - this is not the government call.
The latest data from the US Federal Trade Commission shows that reports of government imposters have surged. You know that the Social Security Administration (SSA) impostor claims that your social security number is related to “criminal activity” and asks for some information or money. (This is a lie. The real SSA is not like that.) But those scammers are not alone: people are still telling the Federal Trade Commission that they are receiving calls - and losing money - scammers pretending to be the IRS, medical insurance, one Government subsidy group, or police and FBI. For example, exploring these data can tell you that the median loss of law enforcement impostors this year is the highest among all impostor frauds (up to $3,000), and 20% of those who reported these scams told us they lost money. These calls are effective because they are scary. But now you can stay up to date as the data is updated every quarter. Or go back for 5 years and see how things change. Of course, there are tips on how to find a government to impersonate fraud. So if you want to share the handouts you created with a few clicks, you will be able to tell people not just the scope of the problem, but to help them know what to do when they answer the phone from the next call - the government.
