Scam callers are becoming a daily occurrence for many people, include those in law enforcement.
Manitowoc County Sheriff Dan Hartwig was on WOMT’S Be My Guest program recently, where a caller asked about scams. Hartwig said that he gets inundated with scam calls just as much as everyone else. He estimates that for every legitimate call he receives, he also gets three or four spam calls.
He said he has received calls saying his “social security number has been compromised, and you need to call in. They have grandparent scams where they will try and tell an elderly person that their grandson or granddaughter has been in an accident or are in jail and they have to send money.”
According to Sheriff Hartwig, another scam that is used fairly regularly is, “where people will get phone calls and they will be identified as an officer say with the Sheriff’s Department, but no such officer works at our agency.”
Hartwig said that the most difficult problem for law enforcement as far as catching these scammers is that they are able to spoof phone numbers, making it look like the call is coming from a reputable source.
“The best thing that we recommend is to hang up, document, and don’t fall into any type of pressure or anything that they try to push on you because it’s likely fake,” Hartwig said.
The caller also asked if people should avoid for example hitting 1 when prompted because he heard it confirms that they reached a valid number. Sheriff Hartwig said that he was correct.
Hartwig also stated that the IRS, the Sheriff’s Department, and the Police Department are not going to call you to get a payment. They will either send you a letter or send an officer to your home.
The caller then jokingly asked if he could disregard the call he received the other day which claimed that the FBI was after him. Hartwig laughed and said, “I would think so.”
