A Rhinelander-area family has been barraged by telephone scammers making some serious claims.
This week on Facebook, Cindy Kelling wrote that she has been repeatedly getting some calls from scammers.
She says Tuesday her husband called her to report he was called on his phone by someone saying there were serious allegations against him..
"....Shortly after I hung up with him we compared numbers and it was the same number. We realized it was a scam....the next day, yesterday, I received a phone call from another number, it was a recording, saying my Social Security was being withheld, something with my taxes...."
Other calls have come in, including a scammer saying her Social Security was being withheld because of an irregularity with her tax return. She confronted the caller by saying it was a scam and the caller hung up.
Kelling says she wants the public to be alert...
"...I just wanted the general public know that this is going on. Today's call came from California. That one was claiming to be the IRS. Yesterday's came from Washington, D.C.. They were calling from the Social Security Administration. The previous one my husband and I both received said the cops were coming to take us into custody. That one also came from Washington, D.C...."
Kelling is hoping the public takes note of these scam calls, especially the elderly.
Consumer protection officials say legitimate organizations don't do business this way. The scammers are trying to pry as much information as possible from you, including your Social Security number. Officials say just hang up and then contact the real agency to verify information.
