The designated secretary of the Department of Consumers (DACO), Edan Rivera Rodríguez, warned citizens on Monday to be aware of the frauds committed over the phone by unscrupulous people who present themselves as employees of banking institutions, government employees or use any excuse to fulfill the mission.
“I heard about a person who was cheated on the phone. In a phone call, a man posed as an employee of the Electricity Authority and threatened to cut off electricity for non-payment. The consumer provided him with the credit card and was deceived by almost $ 20,000. In the face of such a scenario, people get confused and fall into the trap of crooks “, said Rivera Rodríguez in written statements.
The official recommended to consumers in a similar situation that they request personal information over the phone to close the call and that the consumer himself be the one who generates the phone call to the official number of the agency or company. Similarly, it recommends that you do not respond to or share personal data via email to avoid fraud or identity theft.
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He mentioned that another publicly reported case was that of a woman cheated through the ath mobile app. The scammer asked him by phone to validate the code to restore the account, which allowed him to access it and withdraw over $ 2,000.
For more information on how to prevent scams, you can visit the pages of the Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov) and the Office for Consumer Financial Protection (consumerfinance.gov).