The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a fraud alert to warn citizens of reports that the DHS OIG Hotline telephone number has been used recently as part of a telephone spoofing scam targeting individuals throughout the country.
The perpetrators of the scam represent themselves as employees with “U.S. Immigration” and can alter caller ID systems to make it appear that the call is coming from the DHS OIG Hotline telephone number (1-800-323-8603).
The scammers demand to obtain or verify personally identifiable information from their victims through various tactics, including by telling individuals that they are the victims of identity theft. DHS reminds the public that DHS OIG never uses its Hotline number to make outgoing calls — the phone line is only used to receive information from the public. Individuals should not answer calls purporting to be from 1-800-323-8603, and should never provide personal information during calls purporting to be from the DHS OIG Hotline.
Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of this telephone spoofing scam is urged to file a complaint online via the DHS OIG website www.oig.dhs.gov.
A complaint and/or report of identity theft can also be filed with the Federal Trade Commission.
