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Scam targets youths

College students told to beware

The FBI is warning college students about a phone scam in which impersonators claiming to be agents call about delinquent student loans or dues, delinquent taxes and overdue parking tickets.

Students at various universities have complained about the scam that often starts with the FBI’s telephone number showing on the recipient’s caller ID.

The caller claims to be an agent or someone representing the government and threatens the students with arrest and inability to graduate if the supposedly delinquent costs aren’t paid immediately via MoneyGram, according to a warning issued Monday by the FBI.

The FBI investigates a lot of things but delinquent student loans and parking tickets aren’t among them.

If you get a call from someone who says they’re an agent, hang up without providing any information. The FBI does not call people demanding payment over the phone. Its number appears on students’ caller ID through a gimmick known as spoofing.

This scam is similar to one that uses the IRS name and tries to scare people into paying supposedly delinquent taxes over the phone. The IRS doesn’t do that, either.

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