The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is warning the public about an increasing number of text scams that are impersonating governmental agencies.
Among the agencies being reported as having scam texts are the Arizona Department of Transportation, the U.S. Postal Service and the Pima County Superior Court, according to a press release.
“As a reminder, government agencies will never call, email, text, or message you out of the blue to ask for money or personal information,” said Attorney General Kris Mayes in the release. “If you get a text from the ‘Arizona Ministry of Communications’ ignore and delete it. And you can always report text scams to my office or to the FTC.”
Officials said scammers often will demand money be wired or victims will be asked to pay with gift cards, cryptocurrency or through a payment app. Governmental agencies do not ask for payments through text.
The Attorney General’s Office also advises those who receive such texts to not click on any links as it may lead to counterfeit websites looking to steal personal data.
Recommendations to avoid scams are:
• Ignore messages from unknown numbers claiming to be government agencies, financial institutions, shippers, and private companies.
• Never click links, reply to text messages or call numbers you don’t recognize.
• Do not respond, even if the message requests that you “text STOP” to end messages.
• Delete all suspicious texts. Look for red flags in the text message, like misspellings or directions pressuring you to act quickly.
• Protect any sensitive personal information — bank accounts, health records, social media accounts, etc. — by using multifactor authentication to access it.
Those who believe a governmental agency is trying to contact them should reach out to the agency directly, not through texts.
Report unwanted messages and all suspected scams. Use your phone’s “report junk” option or forward unwanted texts to 7726 (SPAM).
If you believe you have been a victim of consumer fraud, you can file a consumer complaint by visiting the Attorney General’s website. If you need a complaint form sent to you, you can contact the Attorney General’s Office in Phoenix at 602-542-5763, in Tucson at 520-628-6648, or outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas at 800)-352-8431. You can also file a complaint with the FTC on their website ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
