Robo Call Scam in Painesville

The City of Painesville has received reports of a scam robo-call with a caller ID of “City of Painesville.” When answered, the recorded message states there is a problem with your bill. This is a scam/phishing/spoofing call. We are in contact with our network provider to help identify this issue.

 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) office defines spoofing when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID by disguising their identity. Spoofing is often used as part of an attempt to trick the recipient into giving away valuable personal information so it can be used fraudulently. The FCC provides the following tips to avoid spoofing scams:

  • Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. If you answer such a call, hang up immediately.
  • If you answer the phone and the caller – or a recording – asks you to hit a button to stop getting the calls, you should just hang up.  Scammers often use this trick to identify potential targets.
  • Do not respond to any questions, especially those that can be answered with “yes” or “No.”
  • Never give out personal information such as account numbers, social security numbers, mother’s maiden names, passwords or other identifying information in response to unexpected call or if you are at all suspicious.
  • If you get an inquiry from someone who says they represent a company or a government agency, hang up and call the phone on your account statement, in the phonebook or on the company’s government agency’s website to verify the authenticity of the request.  You will usually get a written statement in the mail before you get a phone call from a legitimate source, particularly if the caller is asking for a payment.
  • Use caution if you are being pressured for information immediately.
  • If you have a voice mail account with your phone service, be sure to set a password for it.  Some voicemail services are preset to allow access if you call in from your own phone number.  A hacker could spoof your home phone number and gain access to your voice mail you do not set a password.
  • Talk to your phone company about call blocking tools they may have and check into apps that you can download to your mobile device to block unwanted calls.  Information on available robo-call blocking tools is available at https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/stop-unwanted-robocalls-and-texts

 

For more information provided by the Federal Communications Commission, please go to: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/spoofing-and-caller-id

The Painesville City Police Department has been notified of this matter.