A new phone scam has emerged in the United States, where people are called at home and told they have to pay a fine or will otherwise be arrested. The scammers pose as a police officer and state the called party has committed an offense.
Such an offense could be a traffic violation, failure in paying taxes on time or ignoring jury duty. In the case of foreign people are told that there are problems with immigration papers. To avoid the arrest,the person who is called has to call back a phone number.
Then the victim is instructed to pay a fine ranging from 500 to 2,500 dollars, otherwise the person in question is told he will be immediately arrested. To make the scam seem more authentic the scammers use a spoofed phone number, so it looks like the police, the tax authorities or 911 is calling.
Security Analyst Neera Desai of Malcovery Security managed to make a recording of the phone scam (see below) and has put it online. According to security researcher Gary Warner the scam is very popular in the US. He advises people who are called to file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI , so the authorities can better understand the extent of this scam.
http://www.askgar.com/SheriffScam/SheriffScam.m4aTranscript of the call above:
"This message is for (student name). Hi this is officer Steven Jones and I'm calling you from Jefferson County. The reason of my call is to inform you that we have received a legal complaint against you on ??? identity. So if you want to be on the safer side and not get arrested contact on 646 759 4934 I repeat (646) 759-4934. If you disregard this message you alone are responsible for the legal actions that are taken against you. Thank you and have a great day!"
