The U.S. Marshals are asking the public to report all phone scams to not only their local U.S. Marshals Service office but also the Federal Trade Commission.
Waco police said the U.S. Marshals have had cases locally and want to make the community aware of the scam.
The FTC is able to detect patterns of fraud from the information reported and share with law enforcement, which the U.S. Marshals say they hope will help lead to possible arrests.
U.S. Marshals say the calls involve scammers who attempt to collect a fine to get out of an arrest by telling victims they can purchase a prepaid debit card are read the card number over the phone.
Some scammers provide information like badge numbers, names of real law enforcement officials and courthouse addresses to sound convincing.
The U.S. Marshals also provided the following things to remember about phone scams:
- U.S. Marshals will never ask for credit/debit card/gift card numbers, wire transfers, or bank routing numbers for any purpose.
- Don’t divulge personal or financial information to unknown callers.
- Report scam phone calls to your local U.S. Marshals Service office and to the FTC.
- You can remain anonymous when you report.
- Authenticate the call by calling the clerk of the court’s office of the U.S. District Court in your area and verify the court order given by the caller.
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