Mount Posts Warning on Website of an FBI Scam
By Andrew Hoenig | Assistant Editor
MWCC, Gardner, Mass. – Warning! Students should be on alert as campus police have been notified by the FBI of a telephone scam specifically targeting college students. Campus police are urging that students do everything they can to protect their personal identity at all times.
The scam was first reported by the FBI’s Milwaukee Division. The scam is directed primarily at college students using the FBI’s phone number on caller ID. The FBI received numerous calls from concerned students and parents at several colleges in Wisconsin. All reported that “someone who claims to be representing the U.S. government has been threatening to arrest the students if they fail to pay thousands of dollars.”
So far in each case the threats have ranged from false claims of money owed for student loans to delinquent taxes and overdue parking tickets. During each attempt, it was reported that the scammer tried to “gain personally identifiable information from students and claims to have specific information regarding the students.” The originating number used by the scammer(s) comes up as the FBI’s local office in Wisconsin and in some cases have even directed potential victims to the Milwaukee homepage on the Internet. They claim they can “verify” the caller ID phone number. All this is in an attempt to keep the students on the phone longer.
Along with this warning, the FBI is now reminding the public that the FBI does not call private citizens requesting money. If students should receive a call like this then they should immediately disconnect the call or not answer at all if they see the caller ID. If you do receive such a call the FBI is urging students to:
1) Not follow the caller’s instructions
2) Notify your banking institutions
3) Contact the three major credit bureaus and request an alert be put on your file
4) Contact your local law enforcement agencies if you feel you are in immediate danger
5) File a complaint through the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov
Information regarding this scam sent out by Public Affairs Specialist Leonard C. Peace of the FBI Milwaukee Division and is visible on the iconnect.mwcc.edu homepage.
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