New telephone scam in area

CRESCO - Nancy Schimmels of Cresco alerted police to a telephone scam she has been receiving since March 28. “I’ve been keeping track of the calls from that number, and as of April 5, I had 36!” she said. She has received others since then.

The caller says they are from Social Security Disability, and they want to get paperwork ready for a July meeting.

Schimmel called the Social Security Administration who advised her, “We do not call you on the phone. We send a letter.” In addition, she talked with Cresco Police, who told her to tell the caller she has called Social Security and the police.

“I’m probably not the only one getting called,” said Schimmel. “I won’t delete their calls until this has been resolved. I just want this to stop. To me it’s harassments.”

Another scam going around is when a caller tries to manipulate you into saying the word “yes.” You may be giving them the okay to make a purchase under your name. Be careful how you answer the phone.

The best way to avoid phone scammers is to not answer a call if you don’t recognize the number.

According to the Federal Trade Commission website, here are a few tips to avoid phone fraud.

• Spot imposters. Scammers often pretend to be someone you trust, like a government official, a family member, a charity or a company you do business with. Don’t send money or give out personal information in response to an unexpected request.

• Do online searches. Search with words like “review,” “complaint” or “scam.”

• Don’t believe your caller ID. Technology makes it easy for scammers to fake caller ID information, so the name and number you see aren’t always real.

• Don’t pay upfront for a promise. Someone might ask you to pay in advance for things like debt relief, credit and loan offers, mortgage assistance or a job. They might even say you’ve won a prize, but first you have to pay taxes or fees. If you do, they will probably take the money and disappear. 

• Hang up on robocalls. If you answer the phone and hear a recorded sales pitch, hang up and report it to the FTC.

• Be skeptical about free trial offers. 

• Sign up for free scam alerts from the FTC at ftc.gov/scams.