“Local call spoofs” targeting Albert Lea area

(ABC 6 News) – Albert Lea Police warn of a scam call from the “inspector general” asking for residents to put money into cryptocurrency.

According to ALPD, a resident of Albert Lea reported they received a call from the “inspector general” of a federal office. The caller stated his name was allegedly used in a money laundering and drug cartel in Texas.

The caller asked the Albert Lea resident to pull $30,000 out of their bank account and “put it into crypto.”

According to ALPD, the resident later received a call from a local government center phone questioning why they had not purchased cryptocurrency.

The resident then reported the call to ALPD.

According to the ALPD, this type of fraud is known as “phone spoofing.”

According to the Minnesota Attorney General, as more people screen uninvited phone calls, telemarketers and scam artists have begun to falsify, or spoof, their caller ID information with locally listed numbers to mislead recipients.

Calls can show a local area code or could be a couple of digits different from the recipient’s own phone number.

If you receive a suspicious call, you are encouraged to immediately hang up and contact your phone company to see what protection features they have available.

The Albert Lea Police Department would like to remind everyone, government officials will never call you to collect money.