June 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. Customs and Border Protection law enforcement agency, or CBP, announced Tuesday that anyone who gets a call from someone who claims to be a CBP agent asking for personal information should just hang up.
The CBP reports that its employees have continually received calls about people who have gotten unsolicited calls from scammers posing as U.S. Border Patrol agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.
CBP Houston Acting Director of Field Operations Rod Hudson said in a press release that "If CBP suspects illegal activity, we will not call a suspect or a victim requesting money or Social Security numbers. To be clear, CBP will not make telephone calls threatening citizens that law enforcement is on the way or promising money for information."
The Department of Homeland Security and CBP state that they don't solicit money over the phone.
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"Anyone receiving a call from U.S. Customs and Border Protection about self-deportation, or a shipment of drugs or money should recognize that it is a scam regardless of how authentic the caller may sound," Hudson added.
The people who have been contacted by scammers allege the phony CBP agents say they've received drugs with the person's name on it, and if they don't give up personal details as requested, the police will come to their residence.
The phishers have also given the names and phone numbers of actual CBP employees to better falsify their identity, and in some cases the fraudulent callers provide phony badge and case numbers.
Another version of the swindle involves a prerecorded message that tells the victim to press one to speak with a CBP officer or agent, upon which the scammer attempts to gain the victim's banking information.
The CBP also said in the release that it will never ask for bank account or credit card numbers or Social Security information, and it never uses wire transfers, cryptocurrency or gift cards.
Scammers can also call with a phone number that appears legitimate, and those who have been called should not phone those numbers back in an attempt to decipher whether a call was real but should instead find the factual information online.
Anyone who would like to report such calls can contact the Federal Trade Commission online to do so.
