The FBI is warning of a phone scam that’s continues to persist in Iowa.
Special Agent Kristi Johnson in the Omaha Field Office says the scam involves the spoofing of calls. A spoofing call is basically whan a call comes in and it looks like it comes in from a particular number — and it’s really coming from potentially somebody who is trying to perpetrate a fraud,” Johnson says.
She says the latest calls are using FBI phone numbers and more. “They are utilizing names of employees of ours — including special agent names. They are trying to demand payment in exchange for no official action. In one instance they are telling people that they have seized a vehicle in another state that was full of drugs and therefore this person needs to make a payment to them,” according to Johnson.
The calls have included other claims that are all an attempt to get vital information and money. Johnson says those type of calls should raise red flags. “And what’s so important here and what I would like to get across to the public is that we will not call and threaten arrest or demand payment or engage in any inimidation tactics over the phone,” Johnson says. “That’s just not how we conduct our business. And if you get a call that is doing any of those three things — you should literally hang up and call and report that to us at the FBI.”
Johnson says the scam calls have already worked. “We have had a couple of actual victims in this particular came where they are using our particular information — Omha FBI — and we don’t want that to happen to anybody else,” Once you hang up, you can report the call to the FBI.
“We do have www.ic3.gov, it is a website and people can file their compliant there. That is a way to keep track of the different telephone calls and email scams that are being used in these scams. So we would appreciate that sort of reporting as well from the public,” Johnson says.
Johnson says the FBI’s main number has been spoofed in these scams throughout Iowa and Nebraska.