‘For goodness sakes, here we go again’ — Bellingham Police issue another scam warning
C. Jack Johnson was eating his breakfast when the call came in at 7:56 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Johnson said he’s gotten to the point he’s screening his phone now, letting calls go to an answering machine after multiple scam attempts — someone claiming to be the “IRS” called him about a month ago and somebody from “technical service” wanting to “update” his computer phoned a few weeks before that.
“I figured at that point in the morning, it was either a scam or a tragedy some place,” Johnson said. “I knew my kids were at Sturgess and on their way back. My grandson races motorcycles, so I figured they’d leave a message if something happened.”
So Johnson decided to play the message.
It was a computer-synthesized voice claiming to be an agent from the FBI, telling him that his address was under investigation, a warrant had been sworn out for his arrest and that he urgently needed to call back.
“I said, ‘For goodness sakes,’” Johnson said, “’here we go again.’”
“Here we go again” is right — Johnson is far from the only area resident to receive the call. The Bellingham Police Department posted an alert on its Facebook page on Wednesday, saying “Over the past few weeks, we have received several reports of citizens getting scam phone calls.”
The post went on to say that the scam calls warn of impending arrest if bills, fines or back taxes are not paid immediately.
“Law enforcement does not conduct business in that way and we specifically would never demand, under threat of arrest, personal banking information from citizens in order to pay off a fine over the phone.,” the post said. “Please do not buy into these scam calls, simply hang up. These callers are criminals who are trying to obtain your personal banking information and steal your money.”
Bellingham Police Lt. Claudia Murphy said there were six reported scam calls in June, five more in July and there have been three in August as of Friday.
“Those are just the ones that have been reported,” Murphy said. “There are probably hundreds more that weren’t reported.”
Kylie Terpsma replied to the the Bellingham Police post, saying she’s also recently gotten calls from someone claiming to be from her medical insurance company wanting to verify her identity.
“They are wide-ranging in the reasons for how the crook tries to get money,” Murphy said.
According to a 2017 story by marketwatch.com, an estimated one in 10 American adults was victimized by a phone scam in 2016, with each victim losing an average of $430 — a total of $9.5 billion.
Fortunately, Johnson was not one of those statistics, and he said he, “wanted to do everything I could to make sure nobody else fell victim.”
The FBI’s Pittsburgh division warned of a similar scam to the one Johnson received in early 2017, giving this tips:
▪ Always be suspicious of unsolicited phone calls.
▪ Never give money or personal information to anyone you don’t know and did not initiate contact with.
▪ Trust your instincts — if an unknown caller makes you uncomfortable or says things that don’t sound right, hang up.
Murphy also added that neither the FBI nor any other law enforcement or government agency or any other legitimate business will ever ask you to pay for something in gift cards.
“If someone asks to be paid in Green Dot (debit) cards, or iTunes cards, or Google Play cards or any other type of gift card, it’s 100 percent a scam,” Murphy said. “Hang up right away.”
The Federal Communications Commission offers these additional tips to avoid fraudulent calls:
▪ Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers and hang up immediately if you do.
▪ If you answer the phone and the caller or recording ask you to hit a button to stop getting calls, hang up. Scammers often use this trick to identify potential targets.
▪ Do not respond to any questions, especially those that can be answered with “Yes” or “No.” Scammers may try to record you saying “Yes” or “No” to utilize elsewhere.
▪ Never give out personal information, such as an account number, Social Security number, mother’s maiden name, password or other identifying information in response to unexpected calls.
▪ If someone calls saying they represent a company or a government agency, hang up and call the phone number on your account statement, in the phone book or on the company or government agency’s website to verify the authenticity of the request.
▪ Use caution if you are being pressured for information immediately.
▪ If you have a voicemail account with your phone service, make sure to set a password for it. A hacker could spoof your number and gain access to your voicemail.
▪ Ask your phone company about call blocking services or check into apps that you can download to do the same on your cell phone. Information on robocall blocking tools is available at fcc.gov/robocalls.