A number of telephone scams and spoofing has been circulating within the Castle Country area. The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office warns citizens to not fall prey or be decieved by the fraudulent ways of these tech savy criminals.
“A number will call you and say they are from the IRS and they’ll tell you that you owe taxes from last year that you didn’t pay and if you can make a payment right now, today, over the phone, they will not issue a warrant for you. Then they will tell you if you don’t make a payment you’re going to go to jail for 90 days and they’re going to turn that over to the sheriff’s office,” said Carbon County Sheriff Jeff Wood. The IRS will never contact a taxpayer on the phone to collect taxes, nor will they ask for payment information. It’s has been reported that the caller often times is very aggressive over the phone. Never feel pressured to make a rash decision, instead ask for written correspondence or immediately hang up the phone.
Scammers are using a hacking mechanism called “spoofing,” where they can change the caller ID that pops up on your phone to something fake. It generally looks to be a local number from the area but most of the calls are made from out of state or out of the country. It’s best to never answer a call from a number you do not know, have your voicemail screen the calls first.
“There’s another out there that you’ll get an email from Netflix that says you need to update your account. It’s very convincing, it takes you to what looks like a legitimate website and it asks for your personal information, your credit card numbers and all that stuff to update your account, don’t fall for that one either,” said Wood. This type of spoofing through email messages uses a forged sender address. It’s unfortunate how scammers are finding creative ways to defraud individuals.
If individuals are concerned that their personal accounts have been compromised they should immediately contact their bank or credit card companies. “Alot of people don’t realize the knowledge that banking institutions have; your bank knows every scam that is out there,” said Wood. It’s very difficult to prosecute phone scams because criminals will quickly change their phone number and/or email address to move on to other potential victims.
Citizenss should be very cautious with the holidays among us, criminals use this busy time of the year to take advanatage of consumers in various ways; if you wish to be generous to various charities, make sure they are legitimate, do your research by visiting their website and if possible make your contribution online. Online holiday shopping should be done on athentic websites and always watch your bank and credit card accounts for any inconsistencies.
The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office wishes everyone wonderful time during the upcoming holidays.