Police Warn Temple Residents Of Increase Of Phone Scams Hitting The Area

Be careful of what personal information you give out over the phone.

Over the last few days, Temple Police have noticed an increase in phone scams in the area.

Authorities are urging residents to beware when giving out personal information to companies over the phone.

Scammers are claiming to be representatives of the Social Administration, the internal Revenue Service, or a police agency! Sometimes it's a real person on the other end, but often it's a robotic voice that rambles on, sometimes in broken English.

First of all, no one at the IRS or a police department are going to call you and demand you make some sort of immediate payment to avoid being arrested. Second, if a robot voice calls you and speaks in run-on sentences and bad English, it's clearly a scam and you should hang up immediately.

If you feel as if you are receiving a potential call from a scammer do not provide any personal information.

You can report scam calls and the numbers from which you receive them to the Federal Trade Commission at consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0076-phone-scams.