It’s almost dinner time, and the phone rings. You check the caller ID – it’s a New Jersey number. You don’t recognize the number, but you pick it up anyway. “Hello,” a female voice says on the other end of the line in halting English. “I am calling for the United States government. There is $12,500 here for you. Do you want it?” You look at the caller ID again, sigh, and hang up the phone.
That’s right, it’s a scam. In fact, these brave new phone thieves have called my house twice in the last week. The second time they called, we decided to press them a little bit for more information, just to try and uncover their game. As soon as we expressed interest in obtaining the money “that had been set aside just because we are good Americans who pay their taxes on time,” the voice on the other end of the line started asking for the routing information for our checking account. That’s when we hung up for the second time.
If you get this call, don’t fall for it. The thieves at the other end of the line are most likely going to use your checking account information to withdraw money from your account, not deposit federal funds.
After the second phone call, I decided to place a call to my local FBI office just to confirm my suspicions that this was in fact fraud. Part of me wanted to believe that the federal government really was trying to track me down and give me money. Hope springs eternal, but my hopes were dashed in the mere thirty seconds it took to get an FBI agent on the line.
“Beseiged.” That’s what the FBI agent said. They are currently “besieged” with calls about this scam. And yes, it is a scam. The federal government is not randomly calling taxpayers and offering them big money simply for being good citizens.
Here are three easy tips about how to avoid being scammed over the phone:
1. Establish a house rule about phone solicitations. In our house, the rule is “NO”. We don’t engage in any sort of financial agreement of any kind with anyone who contacts us by phone. This includes charities.
2. Teach everyone in your family about this rule, and practice hanging up the phone on solicitors. Kids and adults are often hesitant to do this, since it is impolite under normal circumstances. Tell your children that under no circumstances should they ever divulge any personal information over the phone without your knowledge.
3. Alert the FBI to phone calls that seem to be fraudulent. The easiest way to do this is over the internet. The FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center maintain a web site for reporting phone fraud at www.ic3.gov. It’s very easy to use.
Don’t get taken in by these guys. Remember the adage about things that seem too good to be true. They probably are.
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8 responses so far ↓
1 New York City // May 20, 2009 at 12:16 am
Thanks so very much for this information. This same scam was attempted on someone dear to me. Your article gave me the ability to demonstrate to the individual that the $4,851 that the "National Grants Department" promised to send in return for a processing fee of $149 was a lie. Unfortunately, many people are extremely desperate right now and are falling for these types of con games.
2 ARF // Jun 18, 2009 at 9:47 pm
6/18/09
They are at it again form phone number 202 – 280 – 2381
This phone has call blocking, but they do not even care.
And looking for me? This phone is an emergency #, does not have a name.
3 Amanda // Oct 11, 2009 at 2:16 am
I got this call today from phone number 317-299-7864. Shouldn't the feds be going after this person? If we can provide a phone number why can't they catch them?
4 Doug // Nov 18, 2009 at 6:04 pm
I just received a call today 11-18-09 about how the goverment wants to give me 5000. dollars. This is the second call I have got from them. So i humored the guy for a while. The first call I got they wanted a bank acct number so i told the guy if they wanted to give me money just send me a check. The guy and i argued back and forth till i hung up. Today it was the same thing but when i told him i would give no personal info to him he said i could get my free money thru western union but i had to call his supervisor ay 202-657-6402 to get a number so i could go get my money. I called the number he gave me and got no awncer. I know its a scam but i was bored and wanted to mess with them a little bit. How do they think they can pull this scam off about giving us goverment money when they can hardly speek english??
5 Steven // Nov 24, 2009 at 2:49 am
they call every day, all day, mostly we ignore it and just don't answer………..but tonight I just plain got sick of it and answered the phone in order to become the "most ignorant person on the face of the planet"………and I performed quuite well for about 10 minutes while my wife and son were doubled and rolling around on the with laughter. Finally in complete experation they hung up on me, and I doubt they will call me again.
6 DAQ // Dec 9, 2009 at 11:33 pm
I received the call today also and muther ****ed them throughly and told them that I called the our State Arttorney General's office as well as BBB. I'd never offer my acct. info but it's absurd that they are claming they are from the U.S. Dept of Health and Human services. It's a federal crime to claim you are from a government agency. Total pieces of ****.
7 lisa snyder // Mar 5, 2010 at 7:03 pm
i got a call yesterday ,they said tthis guy named steve walls was from the us government and he had 5000.00 to give me all i had to do was give him a card numer to put it on so i gave him pre paid card that has no link to anything then he says his supervisor was going to call me today and put money on card well when they called they wanted me to go to western union and give someone in india 50.00 as a donation first then they would send the money lol they think people are that stupid the numers they gave me are 1-202-657-6268 and 1-408- 916 1704 supposedly the government id # is I374 for steve walls ,i live in alaska be ware of this scam
8 Linda // May 7, 2010 at 4:37 am
I got a call earlier today 5/6/10 saying since I was one of America's best citizens the Fedral (his spelling) Health Department was going to send me $500. All I had to do was give them my address. I was given an address (in NJ), a phone number, person's name and ID number. I asked him more questions than he asked me. He finally gave up and hung up on me.
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