Greetings Lighthouse Inc., Church Family,

We wanted to send you a reminder to be very careful who your share your information with.  Scammers have become very sophisticated, and they want your money.  We encourage you to be highly cautious when dealing with phone conversations with people claiming to provide services to you.  There are many phone spoofs going on at this given time.  They can program the caller ID to say anything.

“Spoofing” is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. Spoofing is often used as part of an attempt to trick someone into giving away valuable personal information so it can be used in fraudulent activity or sold illegally.”

Some recent scams include the following:

1) you have unclaimed money and they need you sign for it…  Don’t do it. 

2) This is the State Police we are coming to arrest you for not appearing at jury duty, parking tickets, your dog was run over, etc… you can pay and we won’t come out…  Don’t do it. 

3) This is your local Utility company (DelMarva Power, Delaware Electric Coop, Verizon, Comcast) we are going to turn your utility off unless you give us money right now…  Don’t do it.  

Some tips to remember:

The following tips can help you avoid becoming victim to a spoofing scam:

Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. If you do so by accident, hang up.
If a caller (live or recorded) suggests hitting a button to stop receiving calls from them, hang up. This can be a trick to engage you in conversation.

Never give out any sensitive data – for example, account numbers, Social Security Number, passwords or PINs, or your mother’s maiden name.

If a caller claims to be with a legitimate company, call back using the phone number on a statement you have from them, or on their verified, secure website. This is particularly important if the caller asks you to verify personal information or make a payment.

If you are immediately pressured for information – be cautious. You are not obligated to answer any question asked of you.
Set your own password for your voicemail. Some voicemail services are set up to automatically allow access to your mailbox if you call in from your own phone. If a scammer spoofs your number, they can access your voicemail if you have not set a password or PIN requirement in place.

Use a call blocking tool (talk to your phone company) or reputable app on your mobile device. There are different options for different platforms. Do some research and choose the one that makes the most sense for you.

Don’t be naive you can be scammed – click here – and learn from my mistake…

Blessings,

Lighthouse Inc., Church