The inspector general’s office in the Department of Homeland Security is warning that identity thieves and fraudsters are spoofing caller ID systems to make it look as if victims are being called from the IG’s anonymous tipline. “The perpetrators of the scam represent themselves as employees with ‘U.S. Immigration,’” the office states in a press release circulated Wednesday, and “demand to obtain or verify personally identifiable information from their victims through various tactics, including by telling individuals that they are the victims of identity theft.” “Many of the scammers reportedly have pronounced accents,” states the press release. The office said it wanted to remind the public that it “never uses its hotline number to make outgoing calls — the phone line is only used to receive information from the public.” The hotline remains “perfectly safe” for reporting “fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement within DHS components or programs,” the statement concludes. The office […]
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