Jamieson Reminds Citizens to Beware Phone Fraud

Phone fraud is a huge problem in America and Toccoa City Commissioner Jeanette Jamieson has had enough.

Jamieson said she was recently hit with back to back calls phishing for Social Security information. “The first thing that they are saying is this is the Social Security Administration. We have reason to believe there is a problem with your social security. I’ve never really let them get any farther than that because I know it is a bogus call. On the first call, I knew it was a recording so I just said thank you so much I will contact my local Social Security office to get it cleared up and just hung up. On the second call, I just hung up when I heard they said who they were because I knew that wasn’t right.”

The Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Division says those calling are looking for money or personal information. Jamieson says please do not give any information out over the phone. “Please remember if you get a call like this do not ever, ever, give out any information to these people. We have a local Social Security office here. So if this creates a concern for you, you can always go to this local office to see in-person, and tell them what the situation is and they will be glad to help you.”

The FTC’s Consumer Division encourages you to hang up when you get a call that you are not sure. Even if it’s not a scammer calling, if a company is calling you illegally, you do not want to do business with that company. When you get a robocall, do not press any numbers, it might lead to more robocalls. You are also encouraged to use call blocking to block unwanted calls.

Jamieson said that these calls play on people’s fears, especially the elderly that are vulnerable. “The terrible thing about these kind of scam calls is that far too often elderly people get these calls. They get scared to death that something is going to happen to their monthly benefit check. I think these people need to be caught, and I think they need to be put in jail, but obviously we have a real problem in this country tracking down these kind of people.”

Jamieson reminds you that you can’t trust the numbers that you see on your caller ID. Many of the scammers have found ways to use local numbers. The FTC’s Consumer Division concurs. They say that scammers can make any name or number show up on your ID. That’s called spoofing. So even if it looks like it is a government agency like the Social Security Administration calling, it could be a scammer calling from anywhere in the world.

You can learn more about unwanted calls and what to do about them at ftc.gov/calls.