North Dakota phone scams are fraudulent activities meant to steal personal and financial information and money from targets using phones. Phone scam artists use live calls, text messages, and robocalls to steal money from residents. They sometimes use spoofing technology to hide their identities and locations when doing so. Reverse phone lookup applications help to reveal the identities of these scam callers.
In September, North Dakota Attorney General's Office joined 38 other Attorneys General in a letter urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to permit state residents and phone users to use existing technology that may block illegal calls. Unfortunately, there are so many ways a scam artist can defraud residents. Victims of illegal calls can file a Do Not Call Complaint with the Consumer Protection Division.
These phone scams are numerous, but here are some of the scams circulating in North Dakota:
- Grandparent scam: Older North Dakotans are a major target for imposters who call pretending to be grandchildren involved in an emergency to steal money from them.
- Online classified ad scams: Here, fraudsters post fake ads to sell stuff, from high-ticket items like cars to low-tickets items like collectibles, etc.
- Sweepstakes scams: Where a victim receives a call claiming that he or she has won an award in a sweepstake. Older residents are usually targets of this type of scam in North Dakota.
- Foreign lotteries: Where targets receive calls or messages that they have won a prize in a lottery. It is a scam, and foreign lotteries are illegal.
- Jury duty scams: Where the fraudster calls and poses as a law enforcement officer using caller ID spoofing, claiming that the target has missed jury duty, and threatens to have the target arrested unless they pay a fee as soon as possible.
- Inheritance scams: Here, the scammer seeks an only heir to a fortune and contacts them to pay some fees and fill out paperwork that provides personal information.
- Work at home schemes: Where fraudsters advertise online or send emails offering to give successful and tempting work opportunities that can easily be done at home.
What are IRS Enforcement Scams?
A resident may receive a message threatening an immediate arrest or claiming that the target owes money on taxes. The IRS is not responsible for such messages and has also issued several notifications that it will never inform a taxpayer of such urgency by sending a threatening message. This activity is purely a scam no matter what the message threatens.
Persons that receive such calls should ignore them. The IRS is seriously interested in knowing about these calls. Residents may submit an online report to the US Department of Treasury or email the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.
What are Romance Scams?
Numerous people have turned to social networking dating sites to search for love, but these people often end up meeting fraudsters who try to deceive them into sending gifts and cash. These fraudsters create fake profiles to contact their targets on social media sites like Facebook or Google Hangouts. The aim is to strike up a romantic relationship with their targets to earn their trust and eventually ask them for money. If a resident suspects a romance scam: the resident should end communications with the person and pay attention to what family members have to say about their new love interest.
What are Tech and Computer Support Scams?
Here, a phone user receives a call from a scammer claiming that the user has a problem with their computer. Sometimes pop up warning messages that are displayed on the screen of the computer. The scam artist tries to gain access to the computer by installing some malware on the computer. The malware installed will give the computer a problem that makes it misbehave. This gives the scam artist a reason to ask for a fixing payment fee. The scam artist may even ask for payment by credit card or money transfers.
Residents need to control all access to their computers unless they are the ones who called for Tech Support. Antivirus is important because it helps to detect malware and perform regular checks for virus intrusion. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has useful information to help you spot a Tech Support Scam.
What are Online Classified Ad Scams?
Scam artists post fake ads to sell stuff from high-ticket items such as homes, cars, boats, and little collectibles. All they need is for their targets to contact them. Once contacted, the scam is executed. To avoid such scams, residents should not send money directly to a private individual. Instead, use a trusted third-party payer. Such scams may not be easy to resolve. As such, residents who sell items on the Internet are to beware of people who offer more than the asking price.
How Do I Avoid Becoming a Victim of a Phone Scam?
- Avoid answering unknown calls that do not display phone numbers. If a resident picks and it is a robocall, quickly hang up. Do not disclose personal information. Ask questions, and take the necessary precautions.
- Never confirm any personal or financial information like bank account and credit card numbers in response to a forced or unsolicited call. One can verify the caller's identity by calling back the financial institution with a phone number on an official website.
- If a scam artist calls and gives a court order, confirm the call by calling the U.S District Court clerk's office in the state and verify the court order given by the caller.
- Scam artists impersonate government and charitable agencies to deceive their victims. Research on charity organizations to confirm legitimacy before giving out financial assistance of any kind.
- A resident who suspects he or she has been scammed should not engage further with the fraudsters. Simply hang up and report the scam to the FTC.
- Do not respond to pressure from calls claiming they are close relations with a financial problem needing funds. Confirm this information by voice identification or by calling other family members. Beware of imposters.
- A resident may get rid of most telemarketing calls by registering their area code phone number on the free Do Not Call list. The registration adds phone numbers to both North Dakota and the national list. However, this law applies only to personal phones, not phone numbers used for business purposes. Register online at the National Do Not Call Registry or call toll-free (888) 382-1222 with the phone you want to register.
- If a resident with a registered phone number receives an illegal call and has been registered on the list for at least 31 days, file a Do Not Call Complaint with the Consumer Protection Division. The resident must know and provide the name or phone number of the business that called.
- Stay up to date with current scam activities and tactics from legitimate organizations like OAG and FTC.