IMPORTANT PHONE SCAM ALERT 876 Area Code Phone Scams…Hostage / Kidnapping Situations Lottery / Publisher’s Clearing House Scams There is a widespread scam that originates from Jamaica where con artists are placing an estimated 30,000 phone calls to Americans each day, mostly preying on the elderly, to deceive people into believing they’ve won the lottery or that a family member has been taken hostage. The scammers demand “tax processing fees” or ransom be sent via Western Union or by the victim purchasing Green Dot cards. Lists of potential victim information are expensive and their potential value has led some con artists in Jamaica to kill one another for them. This is a sophisticated scam where the callers, who already know their target’s home address, are using Google Maps street views to scare the victims into cooperating or informing that that once they’ve sent the upfront fee, someone will meet them nearby. Some victims report receiving upwards of 50 to 100 calls per day. The scammers take on multiple roles such as IRS/Treasury agents and US Customs agents supposedly involved in the winnings process. Victims who resist begin receiving calls from Jamaicans posing as American government officials, including local law enforcement, the FBI, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security, asking for personal data and bank account numbers so that they can "solve" the crime. Sometimes, the callers threaten physical violence, stating that they know where the victim lives. There also reports of hostage scams originating from Costa Rica; another country known in the recent past to have similar “boiler room” type setups to make thousands of calls to the US each day. Be on the lookout for customers coming in asking to withdraw cash, then stating they need to send it via Western Union, which is a common red flag in several scams (although victims are usually instructed by the scammers not to speak to their bank about it). Variations from an elderly customer’s normal transaction activity should be scrutinized, especially if they appear to be in distress. In the event of a customer being caught in a hostage scam, try to calm the customer down and contact the police so they can talk to them. If a customer is experiencing telemarketing fraud of any type, they can report it to the Federal Trade Commission online at consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0341-file-complaint-ftc or by calling 1-877-382-4357; remind them to be as specific as possible. They should also notify their local police department and phone company. In 2009, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security) formed the Joint Operations Linked to Telemarketing Task Force (JOLT). Last year, Jamaica formed the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force (MOCA) to investigate lottery scammers. Over 400 arrests have been made and over 100 scammers have been charged so far under this cooperative effort between law enforcement in the US & Jamaica.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:45:51 +0000
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