MARQUETTE, MI-- The City of Marquette has been experiencing a plethora of internet and phone scams using spoofed phone numbers over the last several months. Officers are trying to alert the public in effort to avoid any additional person/s falling victim. Most victims who become the targets of fraud scams are considered to be in the naïve segments of the population. Unfortunately, elderly individuals are the most frequent targets of fraud scams.
What is Spoofing? Spoofing is when scammers utilize a computer program to generate a fake telephone number to appear on the caller ID. They will attempt to use local numbers in order to convince individuals they are trustworthy and calling from the local area.
Common Types of Scams:
Family scare tactics - Caller will state they are a family member, such as a grandson, who has been involved in a traffic accident and they need money sent to them for medical bills or to pay off accident fines.
Warrant Arrest - Caller will state they are calling on behalf of the Social Security Administration and if a monetary amount is not paid, the local authorities will arrest them.
IRS - Caller will state they are from the IRS and the individual is overdue in back payments to the IRS, if they do not pay the monetary amount they will have the local authorities arrest them. TIP - the IRS will never contact you by telephone.
Rule of Thumb: If something seems too good to be true, (i.e. sweepstakes winnings) it usually is.
Individuals who receive any scam calls using their family member names are encouraged to hang up and contact that family member directly at their personal phone numbers to verify validity.
Individuals are encouraged to not give out any personal information over the phone, i.e. credit card number, social security numbers, banking information, especially without confirming who is on the other end of the phone call.