Full Notification

SCAM ALERT: Scammers posing as businesses, such as local police departments, PG&E or Apple Support, are making phone calls to residents where it appears to be from a legitimate phone number for that business or company but they are using spoofing software on the internet to make it appear they are calling from a trusted phone number. Once they have you on the phone, they may have minimal personal identifying information, such as a home address, to convince you they are who they are portraying themselves to be. The scammers may claim you are past due on a bill or that hackers have accessed your account. The scammers request you provide them further personal identifying information such as a bank account or credit card number you use to pay your bill. Another ploy they are using to take advantage of citizens is requiring payment for past due charges or for salvaging a hacked account by taking payment in the form of gift cards. Business and companies such as municipalities like PG&E or cell phone providers and large corporations such as Apple, DO NOT accept payment via gift card.
 
As a reminder, the IRS and Social Security Office do not contact individuals by phone but by mail only. The IRS and Social Security will never ask for personal identifying information, such as your social security number, over the phone. If you have an open issue with either agency, you will have a case number or reference number for you to provide.
 
In order to protect yourself from becoming a victim, always verify the claim with the business being represented. Ask the scammer for their name, employee number and incident number for your case. Call the customer service number whatever entity being represented directly using the number provided on the company web site or that is listed on the back of your credit card. NEVER provide any information over the phone to the person calling you and do not pay in gift cards over the phone for past due balances or to resolve account issues. Protect yourself this holiday season.