(Des Moines, IA) -- Iowa is joining a national effort to stop scammers from using a Florida-based company called iDentidad Advertising. Identidad is suspected of allowing scammers to perpetrate robocalls, tricking people into giving their bank or other financial information.
The Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission are warning iDentidad to cease and desist allowing scammers to use the company for robocalls intended to rip people off. The incoming calls often impersonate the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security, utility companies, and banks or other financial companies to trick victims into giving their bank account or credit card information.
In one recent scam a woman in Lincoln, Nebraska tells police she answered an incoming call with Wells Fargo Bank Caller ID. The person calling claimed to be with Wells Fargo Fraud Prevention and told the woman someone was presenting suspected fraudulent charges totalling hundreds of dollars on her bank account.
To stop the fraudulent charges, the Nebraska woman was asked to verify her bank account and pin to the scam caller.
They quickly stole hundreds of dollars from the woman's bank account. The thieves are virtually untraceable.
The Iowa Attorney General's Office, as part of the bipartisan Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, is joining other states and the FCC and Federal Trade Commission in demanding iDentidad stop facilitating scam robocalls.