WATERVILLE — Police Chief Joseph Massey is warning people to be aware of a new scam that is targeting people whose personal information has been compromised through data breaches at big-box stores.
A person whose credit card information was stolen as part of such a breach might get a phone call later from someone claiming to be from the Federal Trade Commission saying money recovered from the breach might be returned.
The caller then asks for the victim’s personal information so the money can be returned.
“If you were a victim of a data breach, you might just fall for this one,” Massey said Thursday. “This is just another one of those scams, but I think it’s a scam people may fall for. The Federal Trade Commission would not call you with that type of information, just like the IRS. They do not call you – they’d contact you by mail. They already have your information.”
Massey said no one has called the Waterville Police Department yet to report being a victim of the new scam, but he got a notice from Maine Identity Services LLC reporting it had just learned of a new scam police should know about in which the scammer tells victims that all they need to do to get their money back from the data breach is give the caller their personal information.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.