Northwest Iowa — Scammers continue to prey on northwest Iowans.
Consumers are being warned about a cagey new telephone scam. The caller pretends to be adjusting a headset and asks, “Can you hear me?” and the typical response you’d give is “yes.” That’s where the trouble starts, according to Jim Hegarty at the Better Business Bureau, and he says the scam is widespread.
Hegarty says this band of con artists started out targeting only businesses with the scheme.
He says the best way to fight back is to use the technology already at your fingertips.
He says if you do answer a call and they ask that question, you should just hang up.
Sheldon Police Chief Lyle Bolkema says someone called the police and told them that they received a call like this where someone asked “can you hear me”. Bolkema says, “Hardly a day goes by when we don’t get a scam call.”
He says another recent call had to do with a firm that offered a better credit card interest rate. He says in this case the company asked for five payments of $199 each. He says the person became suspicious after giving his money, but Bolkema says there was nothing that could be done because he had already entered into an agreement.
We at KIWA have warned people several times about IRS scams. We took a call from someone this week who said that they had received a call claiming to be from the IRS and requesting payment of claimed past due taxes.
The IRS says that this kind of scamming is known as “phishing”. They say if someone calls you on the phone and says they are from the IRS, and you’re concerned whether the call is legitimate, you should write down the employee’s name, badge number, call back number, and caller ID if available. Then you should call 1-800-366-4484 to determine if the caller is an IRS employee with a legitimate need to contact you.
Orange City Police Chief Jim Pottebaum says they have received several calls about scams recently as well. He says he would advise the public to never send money or give out personal information in response to an unexpected request, whether it comes as a text, a phone call or an email.
Meanwhile, O’Brien County Sheriff Allan Schuknecht says their office have taken two “grandparent scam” calls recently in which the person is told that their grandson is in jail and needs money to bond him out. Authorities say that anytime you receive a call like this, you should verify it with the person supposedly involved or their parents.
Sheldon chief Bolkema says they receive so many scam calls, that it’s almost impossible to list every type of scam.
He reminds people not to give out personal information over the phone to someone that you don’t know. He also reminds people that we have, “some fantastic LOCAL businesses that actually care about you.”
