It seems there's a new phone scam every week lately, and this one is starting off as no exception. As I was hanging out with my mom last night, she was telling me how she got a call from an unknown land line number, so she didn't answer it. No more than ten or fifteen minutes later, she got another call from the same number, and once again decided no to answer it.

However, the second call was accompanied by a voicemail on her phone. The message went into great detail about how there were warrants issued for her arrest, and that she needed to return the call immediately, and how she could settle her fines over the phone, and not risk any potential jail time. Now, law enforcement will tell you, they will never, ever call you on the phone asking for money to make charges go away.

But for someone more naive, they might be inclined to call the number back and happily give up their bank information to clear up any trouble, which we all know just leads to way more trouble. In fact,  a co-worker was email scammed over the weekend too, with a pyramid scheme type deal.

And to drive the point home even more, Old Town Police Department issued a scam alert via their Facebook page, about people calling folks and saying they're from the IRS. These folks are going so far as to threaten arrests or deportation if they don't settle their tax bill right then and there on the phone. Again, the IRS will never call you and threaten you with any kind of legal action over a tax bill, and certainly not without repeated tries to reach you by mail.

So the take-away here is, no real government agency, or law enforcement agency is ever going to contact you directly by phone, demanding money with the threat of legal action. Don't fall for it. No matter how convincing they may seem, or how tough they talk, don't fall for it. You're best bet is to hang up and forget about it. And definitely report it to your local police department, and they will help get the word out to the public, and just be safe out there, kids. It's way too hot to let some scammer ruin your day.

Anyway, go drink some water, and remember that winter will be here sooner than we'd like.

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