U.S. Embassy issues fraud alert

-Published: Thursday, December 19, 2019-

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The U.S. Embassy announced the American Citizen Services has received reports from U.S. citizens living in Costa Rica reporting telephone calls from individuals purporting to work for the U.S Embassy in San Jose.

According to the alert, the callers state the Embassy is updating profiles of U.S. citizens for the Costa Rica Ministry of Hacienda in relation to recent tax law changes.

"The callers request personal information such as passport and social security numbers," said the embassy in its statement. "The callers have also directed people to a website that solicits bank account login and password information."

The Embassy reminds American citizens that it staff will not initiate calls to U.S. citizens offering assistance with host government legislation and regulations.

The Embassy advices:

- Do not provide personally sensitive information such as social security numbers or bank account information to callers purporting to work for the U.S. Embassy.

- If you receive a call, file a complaint report at your local OIJ office.

- Contact the U.S. Embassy at 2519-2059 and ask to speak to a Citizen Services Specialist if you have additional questions or concerns.

-Review information regarding financial scams targeting American citizens at home and abroad at Travel.State.Gov.

More information on this alert can be reached at the Embassy site or line (506)2519 2000 (after hours as well).

In November, the experts of the Judicial Investigation Organization said the holiday season increases the number of fraud cases.

According to the agents, there are several signs that people can identify in order not to fall victim to the fraudulent phone calls.

Among the typical characteristics of these crooked calls are:

- Calls are generated from private or unknown phone numbers.

- The caller offers prizes in exchange for bank deposits.

- Another pretext of the call is to help in a process related to banks, or public institutions even when the victim never asked to be called by any bank agent or other institution.

- Those who makes the call asks for sensitive data such as personal information, bank codes, access codes to smartphones or computers.

- The scammer can also request the email address of the victim, and send a message that includes a suspicious link. Usually in that link, is sophisticated program or virus that steal information from computers or other devices.

- Another type of scam is text messages, where the sender requests a call back to an unknown phone number.

"Many of these fraudulent calls are generated from prisons," agents said.

According to the statistics of the Judicial Investigation Organization, during the first half of this year, from January to June, were filed more than 1,511 telephone scam reports. By the end of this year, losses from phone call scams could be more than $ 9.7 million, judicial agents said.

To alert the public to avoid being victims of scams through fraudulent calls, specialists give the following list of advice:

- Never give personal information over the phone. A legitimate company, bank or public institution never makes calls to customers to request personal data.

- If you receive a call, from an alleged bank representative or other institution, you must hang up and call that institution directly, using the official telephone number, to verify if it is true that they make calls to the public.

- In the event that personal information is requested by means of a call, never give the information. It is safer to go to bank, company or institution offices and give the data to an official agent, in person.

- Periodically change passwords for access to banks, computers or other devices.

- Keep the debit or credit card always with you.

- Check that in stores clerks use official dataphones or payment terminals.

- If you are going to make purchases online, check the credibility and security of the sites where you make purchases, especially if you have to pay online for an affiliations or subscription.

- Always enter a bank's web address writing the full URL address. Never access your bank account from links provided in emails, in text messages, or in search engines.

- Always verify that the bank site shows the logo of a closed security lock. Usually, that logo is displayed before the URL address.

- Remember that banks, companies or public institutions never call customers to request bank account information.

The authorities have enabled the toll-free line 800-3368-6243, to report complaints of false calls and also to provide advice on how to avoid scam's phone calls.

Due to the allegations of scams generated through calls from prisons, Pablo Bertozzi, director of the Penitentiary Police said that security measures have already been increased in prisons to prevent criminal gangs from making calls.

In case of being a victim of fraud, specialists advise filing a complaint immediately with the bank and the Judicial Investigation Organization.

April 2020, is the deadline for telecommunications service operators to implement the technological solutions necessary to block the cellular signal in the country's penal centers.

In August 2018 law No.9597 was approved for the blocking of cellular signals inside the prisons. The goal is to block scams that the prisoners run from the jails.

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