Watch: Scammers Target Midlands Residents
Columbia , S.C. (WOLO) — Scammers posing as FBI officials are targeting residents in the midlands. Earlier this week, USC student Jordan Zimmerman was one of the victims to the scam.
“He actually made it really believable and pretty scary honestly,” explained Zimmerman.
On Wednesday afternoon, Zimmerman recalled a mysterious phone call he received Tuesday afternoon. A man called his personal cell phone claiming to be with the FBI and informed him the bureau was opening an investigation on him for tax evasion.
“They had a lot of information on me that I didn’t give them obviously,” said Zimmerman.
Zimmerman said the phone number mirrored the FBI field office in Columbia. The caller pressured him to pay up or he would be arrested.
“He started talking about how I pay a specific way through a money pack and I started to feel like if it was the government it would have a more official thing than a business to be paid through,” explained Zimmerman.
Officials at the FBI field office in Columbia said they are aware of the scam and that they’ve been receiving several similar phone calls from concerned citizens. Richland County officials are warning residents if they receive this type of suspicious call to be extra cautious.
“You hang up and you call back and ask for that particular deputy, sergeant or whoever’s name they are using and you want to verify that they are doing this because again we would never make a call demanding money, telling you to put it on a green dot card or something like that,” said Lt. Curtis Wilson, Richland County Sheriff’s Dept.
This is one of several scams across the county. Several law enforcement agencies tell ABC Columbia they’ve experienced similar scams through their department. They remind citizens to hang up, call back to verify, and don’t make any payments over the phone.
