SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – The Springfield Police Department is warning people of a new phone scam making rounds in the region.
Officers received several reports Friday of phone scammers posing as Geek Squad employees.
During the calls, scammers are asking people for their retirement account information. Police say many of these calls have targeted an older demographic, but this crime could happen to anyone.
- Police offer the following recommendations to avoid phone scams
- Never give any personal information to an unknown caller.
- Always question the source of a call.
- If you’re unsure, hang up and directly call the business.
Springfield Police say at least six people have reported this very scam just on Friday alone.
“They’re asking for the victim’s retirement account information,” said SPD Public Information Officer Cris Swaters. “And once they have that information, they’re able to steal from those victims.”
A handful of those who made reports did have things stolen.
”Today’s reports have come from an older demographic; people who are closer to retirement age,” Swaters said. “But just because that’s who has been targeted today doesn’t mean that anyone can’t fall victim to a phone scam if they’re not cautious.”
It’s a fairly similar scam to one featured on KY3′s the Place back in February. The Springfield Better Business Bureau discussed Geek Squad email scams at the time.
“The Better Business Bureau has seen an increase in this area of these types of scams,” said Stephanie Garland with the BBB in Springfield. “Nationwide, we’ve had 392 scams reported to us mentioning geek squad as of last month.”
A copy of an email reads, “thank you for choosing Best Buy Geek Squad services.” The email goes on to read about a subscription being renewed and tells you to call a number. The BBB says to stop right there.
”They’re trying to get people to respond to it to call the number they have in there and there’s a fake order number,” Garland said. “It’s obviously a high dollar amount.”
That price tag can range from $400 to $8,000, Garland said. She said there are some dead giveaways that it is a scam.
“At a closer look, they’re noticing the spelling errors, the poor grammar words that don’t make sense,” Garland described. “And ultimately, again, they’re realizing they didn’t order this service at all.”
Springfield Police also have tips if you get a suspicious phone call.
”First, just never give your personal information or banking information to an unknown or unexpected caller,” Swaters said. “And always be skeptical of those unknown or unexpected callers. And if you feel uncomfortable, you just hang up and call back the business directly.”
If you have fallen victim to these types of scams, Garland said she has some tips for the future.
“What people can go ahead and do is they can be more cautious,” she said. “They can read their emails carefully. We just want people to be cautious. And again, realize that if you do experience a scam, report it to bbb.org on our scam tracker, and of course, we’ll report it to the Federal Trade Commission within 24 hours ourselves.”
If you’ve been a victim of a scam, CLICK HERE to file a police report. If you would like to report a scam to the Missouri Attorney General’s office, CLICK HERE.
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