Several of our clients, team members and I have experienced a new wave of phone scams. We have received (multiple) phone call stating one of many alarming things, including the following:
I am calling from the immigration service. We are about to issue a warrant for your arrest. Call Officer XYZ back at 555-XXX.XXXX.?
I am calling from the IRS. We are about to issue a warrant for your arrest. Call Officer XYZ back at 555-XXX.XXXX.?
I am calling from the Sheriff's office. We are about to issue a warrant for your arrest. Call Officer XYZ back at 555-XXX.XXXX.?
I am calling from the FBI. We are about to issue a warrant for your arrest. Call Officer XYZ back at 555-XXX.XXXX.?
(By the way, in one of the above calls, the caller's ID showed 911. Also, it appears these scammers pick out foreign sounding names from the phone book and proceed to call them.)
The scammers then proceeded to announce (essentially):
Unless we hear from you immediately, we would have no choice but to go ahead with the warrant and have you arrested for legal violations.?
Personally, I have received four phone messages with this nonsense. I actually picked up once. The caller had the temerity to threaten me. Of course, I invited him to go jump in a lake (perhaps a little less politely than those words, but you get the idea).
If you get a call similar to one of these examples, assume that this is a scam. Unless, you can reliably verify that a governmental agency is involved, do NOT give any information out. How you could verify depends upon the agency. Nevertheless, you are always well within your rights to demand verification and, in my view, the burden is on the agency to prove that they are genuine.
While it is true that in the immigration context, USDOL, ICE and USCIS have adopted the bad practice of occasionally calling people over the phone for investigations, it is equally true that you can demand they convince you of their genuineness. If in doubt, contact your lawyers or the agency public inquiry line. Make a note of the date and the time you spoke with an agency representative and what you were advised. If you are not certain about the genuineness of the call, also file a complaint with the local police.
You are welcome to call in to our free community conference calls every other Thursday afternoon to discuss your concerns or leave a comment on Immigration.Com. We will be happy to guide you. The conference call information is available here: http://www.immigration.com/community...alls-procedure
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