Bensalem Police: Scam Calls are Spiking
Digital Reporter – Jeff Bohen
Bensalem Township Police are warning residents about a recent spike in scam related phone calls Thursday morning.
According to a release callers are targeting residents by saying they are from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or US Immigration Agents (ICE), also having the additional ability to “Spoof” the phone number they are calling from so it looks like’s its an legitimate phone call from a local, state, federal agency, on caller ID.
“These criminals threaten the citizen with jail time or revocation of their immigration status unless they receive payment immediately. The scammers tell their victim’s that they can avoid these penalties by buying gift cards, scratching off the code on the back and send them a picture of the card number and code,” Police say.
Employees from local to state government asks for payment by phone nor ill any accept the use of gift cards as a form of a payment.
Police say if you receive a call like this, do not provide any personal information- birth date, social security number, etc at all, nor should you purchase gift cards and provide that information to caller.
Recently, in Lower Makefield Township, a victim was called and told her Social Security account was compromised and she sent gift cards totaling over 10 K to the scammers.
If you have any questions or concerns about calls made to you Bensalem Township Police to report the incident and/or check public records for the published official phone number of local, state federal, agencies online to check the status of your account (s).
Don’t be a victim to scammers, protect your personal information at all times, Police say.