Scammers are calling Hawaiʻi residents pretending to be Federal Bureau of Investigations agents and claiming they will be arrested if they don’t immediately pay unpaid fines by using Bitcoin, other cryptocurrency or other methods.
The scammers are “spoofing” a Hawaiʻi Department of the Attorney General phone number — 808-586-1282 — in an apparent attempt to lend fraudulent authenticity to their scam.
Hawai’i Attorney General Anne Lopez
“Spoofing” makes false information appear on a phone’s caller ID — usually a fake local number or a local government law enforcement agency. The scammers use “scam scripts” to try to steal money or valuable personal information.
“Law enforcement agencies, including the Department of the Attorney General and the FBI, will never — and I repeat, never — call Hawaiʻi residents on the phone demanding them to transmit money, whether in the form of cryptocurrency, an anonymous payment card, a wire transfer, or any other means, in order to avoid imminent arrest,” Hawaiʻi Attorney General Anne Lopez said.
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“These people are criminal scammers,” she said. “Immediately hang up the phone, do not call them back, and under no circumstances reveal personal information or send them money.”
The Department of the Attorney General is coordinating with the FBI to protect Hawaiʻi residents. If you or someone you know has been the victim of these phone scammers, contact the department’s Investigations Division at 808-586-1240.
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