Chief Seth C. DiSanto
222 Main St.
Newport VT 05855
Thursday, March 21, 2019
News Media Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net
Newport Police Department Warns Residents of Social Security Scam Calls
NEWPORT, Vermont — Chief Seth DiSanto would like to inform residents about a phone scam seeking personal information, claiming that the call recipient has committed Social Security fraud.
At approximately 7:40 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20, Newport Police received a call from a resident reporting that he had receive three “robocalls” from two different phone numbers that day, claiming to be from a Social Security office and were contacting him about Social Security fraud.
A robocall is a prerecorded message from a person or digital voice that typically prompts the call taker to stay on the line and wait to speak with a person.
The phone numbers the resident received calls from were:
- 1-800-925-7110
- 1-800-681-9891
Through the subsequent investigation, it was determined that the calls were scams seeking to get personal information from the call taker.
“Unfortunately, these calls seem to be growing more and more frequent,” Chief DiSanto said. “People should never take calls from numbers they that do not recognize and should understand that Caller ID may falsely show a local phone number, when in fact it is a scam call coming from another location.”
To help people protect themselves from similar scams, the Federal Trade Commission (FCC) offers several tips on it’s website, including the following:
- Do not take calls from unknown numbers.
- Do not share personal, identifying information like Social Security numbers, account numbers, or mother’s maiden names.
- If a caller claims to represent an organization and you are doubtful, hang up and contact that agency to verify whether the call was truly from a representative.
- Caller ID is not always accurate. A call from a “local” number might not be coming from a local person or organization.
- Never pay a caller using a gift card or prepaid credit card.
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