Attention OPM victims Breach: The FTC does not call you

Attention OPM victims Breach: The FTC does not call you -

As if the more than 21 million of federal employees whose information was violated when the Office iT system management personnel suffered a major hack earlier this year did not have enough to worry about, the FTC warns about a phony phone call to target. According to a press release published on the website of the FTC, July 22, a fraud is committed posing as someone calling the FTC. They claim that they are in contact with the OPM employees and offer money as a result of the recent data breach. Calls reported to the FTC came from a man who introduced himself as Dave Johnson on the Las Vegas office of the FTC; however, a Las Vegas office of the FTC does not exist - nor Dave Johnson. Even if you receive a call from someone other than Dave Johnson, if they tell you that they call the FTC and you are owed money, you should not believe them. The FTC does not give money to the victims of the violation of OPM data, and the caller is most likely trying to get you to disclose personal information they can use to commit identity theft.

Telephone scams are more common than you might think

According to the list of "Dirty Dozen" of the top 2015 scams published by the IRS this year, telemarketing scams sleeves "trick up crooks most popular now. phone scams are more sophisticated than ever, but if you keep a few things in mind, you can avoid being a victim of them.

1. Do not give your personal information. If someone calls and asks for information such as your phone number or credit card / bank account social security numbers, warning bells should go off in your head. sometimes there are moments when you might be asked to provide the last four digits of your social security number to verify account have to give credit card information to make a payment by phone, but they almost always occur when placing the call. Anyone who calls you and asks for this information to be regarded with suspicion. In the case of the FTC scam, the caller asks for personal information in order to ensure that the employee receives money OPM - it goes without saying that you should never have to give your bank account number of the social security information to get money that you are entitled to.

2. Caller ID can not always be trusted. One of the most insidious crooks were developments in recent years regarding phone scams is the ability to spoof their phone numbers to make it look like they are calling from another number or location than they actually are. A common scam during tax season usurps IRS or even local police telephone numbers to convince the recipient that the caller represents the IRS or the police will arrest them if they did not send money immediately . Although a quick Google search would reveal that there are no FTC office in Las Vegas, in this case, it is possible for more sophisticated fraudsters to say they call an office that actually exists; That's why you should always be on your guard. Do not be afraid to get as much information from the caller that you can hang up and call using a number you checked by the company or the official website of the agency.

3. You should never have to send money to receive money. Any call phone that tries to convince you to wire or transfer money to receive money owed to you is almost certainly a scam. If you win money in a contest or owed money after a settlement, there is no reason why you should have to pay anything to get the money you need. Anyone who insists otherwise is trying to fool you. - Do not let them

Telephone scammers often try to play on your emotions and enjoy an irrational state of mind, so no matter what, try to stay calm during the unexpected phone calls - and remind you, you always have the option to hang up. You can report the calls and emails to the FTC using fake his Assistant Web page complaint. Learn more about the OPM breach by following our coverage, and discover more tips to identify and avoid scams on our blog protective against identity theft.