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The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a warning about a phone scam being carried out in the US at the moment. The victims are people who are currently waiting for a response from USCIS. It has warned people expecting contact from USCIS never to make any payments to anyone claiming to be from USCIS over the phone.
It seems that the scammers have somehow got hold of the names of people who are expecting a response from USCIS. This makes them exceptionally vulnerable to being conned.
A scammer will phone someone and claim to be a USCIS staff member. He or she will then request personal information such as social security number, passport number or 'A-number' (Alien registration number).
Scammer claims to have identified irregularities
The scammer will then claim to have identified irregularities in the petition or application submitted by his victim. He will request a fee to correct these irregularities.USCIS warns that these scammers may use a technique known as 'Caller ID spoofing' which is a method of having false information appear in the caller ID area of the recipient's phone.
USCIS says that anyone receiving such a call should refuse to make any payment.
Hang up immediately
The USCIS blog The Beacon contains the following advice 'If you receive a call like that, USCIS urges you to hang up immediately. USCIS never asks for any form of payment or personal information over the phone. Do not give payment or personal information over the phone to anyone who claims to be a USCIS official.'USCIS also requests that, if you have already fallen prey to such a scam, you should report it to the US Federal Trade Commission.
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