The more information a scam artist can acquire, the easier it is for him to assume someone else’s identity, acquire a driver’s license and passport, open lines of credit, buy automobiles and even real estate. Most phone scams target senior citizens because seniors tend to believe a caller claiming to be official. Scam phone calls are increasing exponentially each year and breaking new records. For years, callers claimed to represent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Once law enforcement agencies warned seniors to hang up on anyone identifying himself as being an IRS agent, scammers simply declared they were from the Social Security Administration. They then proceed to threaten seniors with enforcement action and loss of benefits if they do not comply with demands for information. These are what the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) calls “government imposter scams.” The FTC warns that “Regardless of their tactics, their goal is the same: to get you to send them your money.”

Federal government agencies do not call people and ask them to send money for any reason. The FTC offers ways to recognize a government imposter and to beat a government imposter scam. According to the FTC, two common tricks used by fraudulent scammers are the sweepstakes scam and the debt collection scam. In the sweepstakes scam, the phone call is from someone claiming to be a government official. The caller tells you that you are the winner of a federally supervised sweepstakes contest. The number he is calling from appears to be legitimate, but he tells you that there are taxes or service charges due before you can collect your prize winnings. In the debt collection scam, the fake debt caller claims to be from a government agency, law firm, or law enforcement agency. He threatens you with arrest if you do not pay money immediately. The FTC offers five ways to beat a government imposter scam.

1. Do not send money, either by a wire transfer service like Western Union or by sending a prepaid credit card.
2. Do not ever pay for “winning” a prize. If you have to pay upfront, there is no prize and you are being scammed.
3. Do not give out any financial or personal information over the phone.
4. Do not trust the name or number that shows up on the Caller ID. Programs available on the internet can make it look like the caller is from Washington, DC, or even your local area, when they could be anywhere in the world.
5. Put your number on the National Do Not Call Registry

According to First Orion, a company that uses technology to block certain calls from being connected, the number of fraudulent calls has skyrocketed in recent years. In addition, scam artists now use spoofing, so that a legitimate number shows up on the Caller ID readout. First Orion CEO Charles D. Morgan maintained that “Year after year, the scam call epidemic bombards consumers at record-breaking levels, surpassing the previous year as scammers increasingly invade our privacy at new extremes.”