The FBI is warning of a scary scam that is making the rounds in San Antonio and across much of the state, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Special Agent Michelle Lee tells News Radio 1200 WOAI that it is basically a common scam that has been making the rounds for several years. A caller contacts you on your cell phone and claims to be a federal agent. The caller tries to bully the victim into forking over money by claiming they owe unpaid taxes, student loans, or some other debt.
The caller has in many cases purchased the victim's stolen identity, and further intimidates the victim by claiming to know a lot of information about them. Sometimes they even play recorded sounds of police dispatchers or siren in the background to ratchet up the victim's anxiety.
But Lee says this time, there is one new twist to the scam.
"The individuals that are using this techique are employing something called 'spoofing,' where it looks like the phone calls are actually coming from the FBI."
The number on the caller ID indicates it is the FBI calling.
She says, first of all, no federal agency will EVER demand money over the phone, and will never threaten to arrest a person if they don't pay up immediately. The IRS, for example, will have sent you enough registered letters to stack to the ceiling before they get to the 'demand' phase, and that, too, is done by mail.
Secondly, Lee says the way the payment is demanded also gives it away, because it is something that the FBI or IRS would never do.
"The form of payment they are requesting, that gift cards be purchased, or the money sent via wire, those are forms of payment that no legitimate government agency would ever ask for," she said.
She says the caller frequently has a 'strong foreign accent.'