By Steve Bell
JEFFERSON CITY, MO – The Missouri attorney general's office says a new phone scam targeting grieving families is being reported in the Kansas City area. Spokesman Travis Ford says con artists are calling widows and widowers and claiming they need private information like the deceased person's social security number for official purposes. He says the scammers make it a point to make those calls before the Social Security Administration and credit agencies are notified of the death.
"New accounts can be opened. The credit bureaus will consider that person's credit still active. And so credit card accounts could be opened, loans could be issued, even cell phone service could be initiated in that person's account, or all kinds of different things in the way of issuing credit," Ford says.
He also says the government, banks and credit agencies never ask for private information over the phone and anyone doing so is probably "phishing" for a victim.