CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – The City of Corpus Christi is investigating reports of scammers using City of Corpus Christi phone numbers in a fraudulent attempt to solicit payments for Municipal Court warrants. This is known as spoofing. Several residents have received the calls.
Corpus Christi Municipal Court will not call you about an active warrant and demand payment over the phone via credit card, bank draft, or gift card. If you receive a phone call from an individual identifying as a Municipal Court employee and demanding payment immediately over the phone, hang up.
You may receive a text message from Municipal Court informing you that you have a new warrant, but they will not ask for payment.
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), spoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. Scammers often use neighbor spoofing, so it appears that an incoming call is coming from a local number, or they spoof a number from a company or a government agency that you may already know and trust. If you answer, they use scam scripts to try to steal your money or valuable personal information, which can be used in fraudulent activity.
Here are some tips for dealing with these types of calls:
- If you do not recognize the number calling, do not answer
- If the caller request you push a button to stop receiving calls, hang up
- Do not respond to questions, especially ones with a “Yes”…
