BATON ROUGE, LA –
Attorney General Jeff Landry is warning Louisiana residents about a frightening
new phone scam that has been recently reported in our State and
beyond. This scam involves con artists calling and threatening immediate
harm to family members or other loved ones if the scammers are not sent money.
In some instances, the con artists spoof the family member or friend’s phone
number so it appears on the Caller ID.
“Scams like this are designed to frighten consumers into
hastily sending their money to the callers,” explained General Landry. “Anyone
who receives calls like this should contact local law enforcement immediately.”
The stories used by con artists in this type of scam can
vary. Some try to scare consumers into cooperating by claiming to be drug
dealers or gang members who have taken a loved one hostage and others claim the
loved one has been injured in an accident and demand money to pay for
life-saving medical care.
General Landry offers the following tips to avoid
falling victim to this type of scams:
- Immediately
reach out to the family member or friend supposedly in harm by phone,
text, social media, or another method. If you cannot reach him or her,
check with other family and friends who may be able to verify his or her
safety.
- Do
not act right away, no matter how dramatic the story is. Ask for more
information that can be used to verify the situation.
- Be
careful about what you post on social media. If your personal details are
public, someone can use them to scam you and the people who care about
you.
- Do
not give out personal or financial information to a stranger over the
phone, and especially without verifying the person’s identity.
- Never
send money through Western Union, MoneyGram, or any other wire service to
a stranger; and especially without verifying the person’s identity.
- Do
not purchase gift or money cards for the purpose of providing the cards’
numbers to someone else.
- Once
again, contact your local law enforcement as soon as you receive a call
like the ones described above.