BBB warns folks of government imposter scams

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - Officials with the Better Business Bureau say government imposter scams are on the rise.

Whitney Quick with BBB of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois said reports of these scams increased this year.

“In 2021, consumers reported losses of more than $445 million in government imposter and government ramped scans and these are up from 175 point 4 million which are reported in 2020.” Quick said.

Quick said scams like these have skyrocketed during the pandemic and continue to be an issue.

“Scammers may show they may spoof a legitimate government agency phone number and how they do that like there’s programs on your computer where they can change telephone numbers.” Quick said.

“A lot of times we talked about this with neighbor spoofing, where the phone numbers come in and they look like something similar to your phone number.” Quick continued.

She shared that scammers will often threatens to arrest if consumers fail to comply with the request.

If you are asked for payment and gift card, that should be a red flag.

“You want to report it so you want to make sure that you go to the police first make sure that you contact your bank, report it with Better Business Bureau and then also the Federal Trade Commission”

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