Amarillo residents are reporting an increase in scam phone calls this week.
On social media, residents have been reporting several recent scam phone calls. Most prominently, those reporting the calls say that a number listed on caller ID as their own phone number is ringing through to the recipients phone. Those who have answered the calls report silence on the other end of the line, followed by a quick termination of the call.
Some have also reported that the call tells the listener that their account has "been flagged" and proceeds to ask the caller for the last four digits of their social security number in order to clear up the account.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, the scam has been appearing throughout the United States since 2015. While the number may appear to be from your own phone or from your own area code, it is very likely that the call is not coming from your area or perhaps not even from the United States.
Bikram Bandy, Do Not Call Program coordinator for the FTC, wrote an article in 2015 in which he detailed the scam.
"Technology makes it easy for scammers to fake or 'spoof' caller ID information," Bandy wrote. "They can make it look like they’re calling from a different place or phone number. Even your number. Scammers use this trick as a way to get around call-blocking and hide from law enforcement. They hope you’ll be curious enough to pick up. Don’t fall for it."
Bandy says in the article that the best policy for those receiving the scam phone calls is just to ignore the calls. If you do answer and are prompted to enter a do not call list, it is advised that you do not, as it will lead to more phone calls from the same phone number.
For more information, visit www.consumer.ftc.gov.
