The IG said that recipients of such calls should hang up immediately, not provide any personal or financial information, and make a report to its hotline at https://www.gsaig.gov/hotline. Image: Halfpoint/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe inspector general’s office at the GSA has issued a warning about scams spoofing its phone numbers, the latest in a series of cautions from the IG community about ongoing impersonations of federal agencies.
“These spoofed calls may show up on your caller ID as a real agency number. However, the calls are not legitimate,” the IG said. “Scammers may try to pressure individuals into providing personal information, such as Social Security numbers or banking details, or to demand immediate payment by phone. GSA OIG and other U.S. government agencies will never call to threaten arrest, suspend benefits, or demand payment in any form.”
The IG said that recipients of such calls should hang up immediately, not provide any personal or financial information, and make a report to its hotline at https://www.gsaig.gov/hotline. It said that recipients of calls claiming to be from another agency should be reported to the hotline of that agency’s IG or to the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov.
Previous warnings about impersonation scams—involving agencies such as the IRS, SSA, CBP and EPA in addition to the GSA—also have pointed to spoofing of official phone numbers and even use of the names, titles and other identification of actual individual agency employees.
The FTC last year strengthened its rules to against scammers who impersonate federal agencies and individual employees—as well as private businesses and their employees—in response to what it called a surge of complaints about such fraud and the potential for artificial intelligence to make it more widespread.
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