Friday, December 3, 2021
Our office has recently been made aware of scam social media direct messages pretending to be from Attorney General Josh Stein. These messages are coming from fake accounts.
The attorney general or any other government official will never contact you to demand payment or threaten arrest. Scammers use this tactic to intimidate and pressure you into giving your money or personal information away. To avoid being scammed in these situations, take these precautions:
- Do not wire money or send cash or gift cards to someone who says they’re with the government. Scammers will use these methods to take your money and disappear. And if they’re asking you to pay via gift card, it’s always a scam.
- Examine the email or message carefully and look for signs of a scam – spelling and grammar errors, an email address that does not match the agency’s official URL, a social media handle that has extra punctuation or numbers, or vague subject lines.
- Verify the government official or agency’s contact information by looking it up independently. You can contact the agency directly to confirm whether a conversation is legitimate.
- If you receive a call, message, or email from someone claiming to be a government official, hang up and verify by calling the agency directly. Do not give in to the pressure to pay money or give up your personal information.
If you or someone you know are still unsure or have received a scam message from our office, please report it to our Consumer Protection Division at 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or file a complaint.