SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The FBI is warning the public about phone scammers pretending to be federal agents after a Lincoln resident was swindled out of more than $45,000 dollars.
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Sacramento Field Office began investigating following the incident in Placer County in June. In that incident, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said a resident in Lincoln paid a scammer approximately $45,500 dollars.
According to investigators, the victim received an unsolicited call from the scammer who claimed to be an FBI agent. The scammer told the victim that their identity was being used in money laundering and drug smuggling operations, and that the only way they could avoid being prosecuted would be if they purchased gift cards from various stores and provide the card numbers.
“We want the communities we serve to know that the FBI will never place an unsolicited call to demand personal information or payment,” Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan of the FBI Sacramento Field Office said.
Investigators say these schemes – where a caller claims to be with law enforcement – are common. The scammer often requests personal information and demands fees to be paid immediately to avoid arrest, prosecution or financial harm, investigators said.
“A call from any official law enforcement agency can set anyone’s nerves on edge and perpetrators of scams know how to exploit those feelings,” Ragan said.
If you think you may have been targeted by a phone scam, the FBI asks you to report those incidences using the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) website at www.ic3.gov
The FBI offers these tips when dealing with unsolicited phone calls:
- Never provide personal information including banking information, Social Security numbers, or other personally identifiable information to anyone that you do not know
- Never obtain gift cards to provide remote payment
- Always approach any unsolicited telephone call with caution
- Always feel free to discontinue or “hang up” any unsolicited call
- Always contact law enforcement with any concerns
- Always report scams and attempted scams to www.ic3.gov
