Anchorage police are urging people to protect their personal information after they received multiple reports of scam calls and texts.
The calls and messages, many of which originated from numbers with a 907 area code, are asking for Social Security information or financial information, according to an alert Friday from the Anchorage Police Department.
Police say that the U.S. government and law enforcement will never ask for payment as a way to avoid arrest. And the police department advised members of the public to never share any sort of personal or financial information to unknown or unfamiliar callers.
If you’re asked to pay or send money through Bitcoin, a wire transfer or any sort of prepaid card, it’s a scam, according to police.
If you’re not sure whether the number on your phone’s screen is actually the number that’s calling, hang up on the call, look up the agency that’s supposedly calling you and phone that agency yourself. You should hang up the phone and call 311 if someone calls asking for payment because of your involvement in a criminal case, according to police.
Police urged people to report online, business or phone scams to the Federal Trade Commission immediately at reportfraud.ftc.gov.