Phone scams continue to proliferate, and on Monday the Iowa Auditor of State’s Office (AOS) reported a new one.
“A concerned citizen notified the AOS Office on Wednesday, November 30, 2022, that they had received a phone call from a person inquiring about their mortgage,” the office said in a news release. “The caller also stated that they knew the concerned citizen’s name, address, and height.”
Scammers often include personal information about the person they’re targeting, even when it doesn’t seem applicable — what does a person’s height have to do with a mortgage? — in order to make themselves sound as if they have access to the sort of personal or confidential sources of information a government agency would in order to seem more convincing.
“The Auditor of State Office will never call you to inquire about your mortgage or personal finances,” Auditor Rob Sand said in the news release.
The AOS statement did not explain what the caller was trying to get from person who contacted the office, but typically such scams involve attempt to information to allow the criminal access to bank accounts or be able to use the victim’s credit cards by claiming to need the information to complete official records or prevent identity theft.
Another common phone scam involves the attempt to get direct payments from individual. The caller claims to a law enforcement officer, tells the…
