Complaints about scams in which callers pretend to be from Social Security, the IRS or other government agencies have reached an all-time high, according to new Federal Trade Commission data reviewed by CNN
Julianne Stafford, a special education teacher in Massachusetts, recently got a terrifying phone call: someone claiming to be a Social Security official said a number of bank accounts opened in her name in El Paso, Texas, had been linked to drug trafficking — and that Boston police had a warrant for her arrest.
The only way to clear her name, the caller said, was to pay -- by buying two $500 Google Play gift cards and giving the activation codes over the phone.Stafford nearly fell for it, until the manager at the store where she went to buy the gift cards told her she was being scammed."He looked at me with a great deal of empathy in his eyes and said, 'You're being scammed. Don't do this.' He saved me $1,000," Stafford told CNN in an interview.
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