South Lake Tahoe, CA- South Lake Tahoe Police says they’ve seen an uptick in scam calls in the area. The calls come from people pretending to be from the Social Security Administration, the IRS, or Liberty Utilities, attempting to steal people’s money.
They use fear of loss of access to needed money, being arrested for failure to pay taxes or missing jury duty or turning off the power to the victim’s house as their tool to get people to send them money. One of the latest scams comes in the form of asking for donations to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral.
South Lake Tahoe Police Department reminds people to be highly suspicious of these calls. These agencies will not call you unsolicited trying to obtain money on short notice.
Often, they pressure victims into making quick payments with odd payment types, such as Google Play cards, Apple iTunes cards, or Moneygram payments.
If you are ever unsure whether the caller is real, hang up the phone and call the phone number to these agencies found from legitimate sources. Never use the number they called from. Tens of millions of dollars are lost each year nationwide through scams such as these.
These types of scams have become widespread across California, as well as the country. The scams often originate out of the country and can be very difficult to investigate. The Federal Trade Commission is aware of these scams and has an informational webpage the public can access to learn more:
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/scam-alerts