HOUSTON – Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) Houston is warning the general public to watch out for scammers spoofing reputable regulation enforcement telephone numbers and impersonating HSI particular brokers or different federal, state and native regulation enforcement personnel.
In latest months, HSI Houston has seen a major improve in scammers utilizing this tactic to make their telephone quantity seem like from a reputable supply as a way to acquire delicate info from the general public that may then be used to commit monetary fraud or identification theft.
One of many extra prevalent themes utilized by the scammers is to assert that the individual being referred to as, or a member of the family, has an excellent difficulty or violation that might lead to arrest and that as a way to “resolve” the difficulty the individual must make a cost or present monetary or different delicate info. Nevertheless, claims like these are all the time a rip-off as regulation enforcement won’t ever contact members of the general public over the telephone demanding cost to keep away from arrest.
HSI Houston urges anybody who receives a suspicious telephone name that they consider could also be “spoofed” or a rip-off to recollect the next tricks to keep away from changing into a sufferer:
- By no means share private info comparable to account numbers, Social Safety numbers, mom’s maiden names, passwords or different figuring out info in response to unsolicited telephone calls.
- Keep away from answering unknown telephone calls and don’t return calls from numbers you possibly can’t establish. If the decision is vital, they’ll depart a message.
- If somebody calls you claiming to be from a regulation enforcement company and also you aren’t positive whether or not it’s a rip-off, hold up and comply with up with the regulation enforcement company at their official telephone quantity discovered on their webpage.
- Resist the urge to behave impulsively or reply to strain over the telephone. Scammers in these conditions typically depend on a ruse that makes an attempt to make you act impulsively out of self-preservation or to guard a cherished one.
Anybody who believes they might have been a sufferer of this rip-off is urged to name the HSI tipline at 1-866-347-2423 or full the online tip form. All info is saved confidential.
For extra information and knowledge on how HSI Houston is retaining South Texas secure from monetary fraud and different scams comply with us on Twitter at @HSIHouston.