Telephone scamming continues to be a problem in the United States, and as part of our crime reporting here at Z107.7 News, we continue to see residents of the Morongo Basin fall victim to telephone scams. Scammers have been targeting senior citizens with phone calls requesting credit card numbers and bank information for a variety of reasons.
A new type of scam we’ve received reports about involve a scammer pretending to be a celebrity or legitimate business person, sometimes claiming that the victim has won a contest or prize.
Another common scam involves a stranger on the phone seeming to be in distress, vaguely claiming to be a grandchild or relative, and asking the victim for money to pay for bail, a hospital bill, or a kidnapper’s ransom. The scammers may say they have been injured, perhaps suffering from a broken nose or concussion, to account for the unfamiliarity of their voice and to confuse the victim.
Other types of calls may ask for a transfer of U.S. currency in exchange for bitcoin, or vise versa.
Z107.7 reminds you to never transfer money to a strange financial account, whether it be a physical bank, Paypal, Venmo, or something else. If somebody is asking you for money, consult a family member or friend before making any transaction – many transactions are irreversible, and scammers will put pressure on you to act urgently. It is always better to wait and investigate the request than to immediately send money without doing due diligence.
https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-avoid-scam
