NASHVILLE, Tenn. (June 26, 2020) – Our offices are receiving an increase in calls from customers that are receiving scam calls and spoofing our office phone number. The phone recordings use various scam techniques trying to get people to pay money and even stating that their children and grandchildren have been hurt.
‘Spoofing is an ongoing problem and their techniques are pretty sophisticated. We want to keep the public informed and let everyone know that these spoof recordings are not coming from any of our offices,” said Circuit Court Clerk, Richard Rooker. “Our clerks will not threaten and request payment in the form of gift cards and other untraceable methods.”
You may not be able to tell right away if an incoming call is spoofed. Be extremely careful about responding to any request for personal identifying information. Here are some tips from the FCC about handling spoof calls.
- If you answer the phone and the caller – or a recording – asks you to hit a button to stop getting the calls, you should just hang up.
- Do not respond to any questions, especially those that can be answered with “Yes” or “No.”
- Never give out personal information such as account numbers, Social Security numbers, mother’s maiden names, passwords or other identifying information in response to unexpected calls or if you are at all suspicious.
- If you get an inquiry from someone who says they represent a company or a government agency, hang up and call the phone number on your account statement, in the phone book, or on the company’s or government agency’s website to verify the authenticity of the request. You will usually get a written statement in the mail before you get a phone call from a legitimate source, particularly if the caller is asking for a payment. Source: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/spoofing-and-caller-id
If you are uncertain if a call is from our office please hang up and contact our office directly. You may also verify by sending an email to the Circuit Court Clerk’s office at circuitclerkpr@nashville.gov.
