Shasta County is warning about a rise in scams that use fake Health and Human Services Agency phone numbers and impersonate employees of the Social Security Administration to deceive residents.
HHSA officials on Wednesday said the scammers are phone spoofing to hide their identity and make it look as if they are calling from a legitimate government agency.
If the caller ID identifies “County of Shasta” or if the call is from a number recognized as a Shasta County HHSA phone line, residents are urged to be cautious, county HSSA officials said in a statement released July 15.
“If the caller identifies themself as a representative of another government agency, such as the Social Security Administration, hang up and call the true agency back at its listed phone number,” the statement said.
Officials shared steps residents, who are suspicious of a call they may have received from an HHSA employee, can take to confirm the caller’s identify:
For more information on Caller ID Spoofing:
What is spoofing?
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says “spoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity.”
Scammers often use ‘neighbor spoofing’ so it appears that an incoming call is from a local number, county officials said.
“Scammers may also spoof a number from a company or a government agency that you may already know and trust. If you answer, these criminals use scam scripts to try to steal your money or valuable personal information, which can be used in fraudulent activity,” the county said.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Scammers are spoofing Shasta County HHSA phone numbers
Reporting by Jenny Espino, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jenny Espino, Redding Record Searchlight | USA TODAY Network
