FBI: Georgia College Students Targets of Phone Scam

The FBI is warning college students in Georgia to be on the lookout for a phone scam which specifically targets them for bogus student loan debt.

Students have called the FBI to complain about phone scammers posing as members of the federal government or FBI agents demanding payment for allegedly delinquent student loans, taxes, or parking tickets, the bureau says.

Some callers threatened their victims with arrest and inability to graduate on time unless the victims wired money to the scammers via MoneyGram, according to the FBI.

The scammers have obtained specific information on their marks and are using it to sound more convincing, and have even ”spoofed” the Atlanta FBI Field Office’s phone number in the caller ID to give the scam caller even more credibility, agents say.

“Spoofing” is a method that scammers use to trick caller ID software into believing a call is coming from a different location. Various online programs allow the scammers to fool victim’s phones into displaying the FBI Atlanta Field Office’s phone number and name when the call comes through.

“The public is reminded that the FBI does not call private citizens requesting money and to never give out unsolicited requests for personal information to callers that you don’t know,” the FBI says in a Monday statement.

Anyone who receives one of this scam phone calls is advised to file a complaint with the bureau through the Internet Crime Complaint Center.