March 7, 2021 - There is a new scam making the rounds that is targeting people to become victims of identity theft. Potential victims are receiving calls from people claiming to be with the police. Anyone who answers the call is told that their personally identifiable information has been released or stollen. They are then given specific instructions on what to do to protect themselves. The only problem is that if they follow those instructions, they'll never see their money again.

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The instructions that victims receive are specific. They are told to move money to existing financial accounts (bank, credit union or brokerage) to new accounts established for them.

Initial instances of this scam have been reported in the San Francisco Bay area, but there are no barriers to entry for scam artists across the country. There is no reason to believe that this particular scam won't spread nationwide very quickly.

Anyone receiving a call like this is advised to hang up and contact their local police department immediately. Anyone concerned that the call may be legitimate shouldn't do anything while on the phone with the caller. Once off the phone, contact your local police department by looking up the phone number yourself. Do not simply return a call to the number that called you. 

by Jim Malmberg

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