Albany Police Department Advisory: Phone Scam Alert

The Albany police have received reports of a phone scam in which the caller claims to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

In reported cases, the caller has been calling residents and leaving the following phone message:

"Hello we have been trying to reach you. This call is officially a final notice from IRS Internal Revenue Service. The reason of this call is to inform you that the IRS is filing a lawsuit against you to get more information about this case file. Please call immediately on our department number 202-239-7350. I repeat 202-239-7350. Thank you."

The phone message is a scam in attempt for the victim to call phone scammer back and provide personal and financial information.

More from Nixle.

The Dialing for Dollars scam

There’s a new scam going around – and if your family name is from South Asia, there’s a chance you already know about it. If the scam sounds familiar, that’s because it’s been around for years, targeting one group, then another. Right now, the people being targeted seem to be from India and Pakistan; tomorrow: who can say?

Here’s what’s happening: You get a call from someone claiming to be from the government – maybe the IRS, maybe a law enforcement agency, maybe the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The caller often has a foreign accent, and might even speak to you in Hindi or Urdu. The caller might have information about you – the last four digits of your Social Security number, for example. The caller tells you that you owe money, and that if you don’t pay, many bad things will happen (deportation for you and your family, freezing your assets, jail…you name it). The caller will tell you to pay using a prepaid card, and will threaten you if you protest.

If alarm bells went off for you as you read that last paragraph: good! There’s a lot there to set off alarms.

Read more HERE.

Don't return calls from these area codes -- it's a scam!

A scam that repeats itself in modified forms every few years is once again spreading throughout the United Sates. Don’t be a victim!

Criminals target people simply by calling them. Intended victims receive a call on their phones from area code 473 which rings once and then disconnects, thereby arousing the call-recipient’s natural curiosity – “who just called me and from where?” Sometimes the caller actually allows the phone to ring long enough for the victim to answer -- after which the caller (or the caller’s robocaller system) makes groaning sounds or otherwise indicates that he or she is in distress and then hangs up, enticing the victim to wonder what is going on and call back.

If either of these happens to you – don’t call back....

Paying for a Threat

Imagine this: it’s the hottest day of the year. (Or, since we’re getting into Fall, the coldest.) Someone from your utility company calls to say they’re about to cut off your power. You check the caller ID, and it looks like the right number – at least, it’s in your area code. You know you've paid your bill, and you can’t imagine what happened – but you also know you can’t afford to lose power. So what do you do?

The caller tells you: I can stop this, but only if you pay me. And, naturally, he tells you how.

Up to this point, it’s the kind of scam we often see at the Federal Trade Commission. Consumers tell us every day about being tricked into wiring money or giving their credit card or bank account number to a very persuasive person – who turns out to be a first-rate scam artist. There are all sorts of scams: someone you know is in trouble and needs your help; you won a big, big prize, but you have to pay a fee before you can collect it; you can get a government grant, but you need to pay some fees – and so many other variations.

But this particular scam has its own variation on the scheme.

Read more from the Federal Trade Commission.

FTC Warns Consumers About Economic Stimulus Scams

The Federal Trade Commission is warning consumers that they could get stung by an economic stimulus scam. The scams come in different forms.

Right now, on the Web and in e-mail, scammers are telling consumers they can help them qualify for a payment from President Obama’s economic stimulus package. All they have to do is provide a little information or a small payment.

E-mail messages may ask for bank account information so that the operators can deposit consumers’ share of the stimulus directly into their bank account. Instead, the scammers drain consumers’ accounts of money and disappear. Or bogus e-mail may appear to be from government agencies and ask for information to "verify" that you qualify for a payment. The scammers use that information to commit identity theft. Some e-mail scams don’t ask for information, but provide links to find out how to qualify for funds. By clicking on the links, consumers have downloaded malicious software or spyware that can be used to make them a victim of identity theft.

Webcast: Economic Stimulus Scams.