Thursday, May 6, 2021

Our office was recently notified about an email scam pretending to be from Attorney General Josh Stein. The sender claims that you owe money and threatens to take legal action, contact your employer, and garnish your wages if you don’t contact them back or make payments.

The Attorney General or any other government official will never text or email you to demand payment and threaten arrest. This is a scare tactic that scammers use to try to pressure you into giving up your money or personal information.

• If you receive a call, text, or email from someone claiming to be a government official, hang up or don’t respond.
• Examine the email carefully and look for signs of a scam – spelling and grammar errors, an email address that does not match the agency’s official URL, or vague subject lines.
• Look up the agency’s contact information independently and contact them directly to verify whether a conversation is legitimate.
• Never send money or give your financial information to someone via email or on the phone.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of one of these phishing emails, please report it to our Consumer Protection Division at 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or file a complaint.