Illinois State Police Warn Of Phone Scam

Springfield, IL-(Effingham Radio)- The Illinois State Police (ISP) is warning the public of a phone scam. ​ Over the past two days, ISP has received several phone calls from individuals reporting a person claiming to be an ISP investigator telling them their identity has been stolen. ​ This is a scam. ​ ISP special agents will not make cold calls requesting personal or financial information, or ask you to confirm personal or financial information. ​ ​ ​ ​

If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be an ISP investigator, ask for the caller’s name, badge number, and phone number, and then hang up. ​ Never provide or confirm personal or financial information over the phone to an unknown caller. ​ You can verify if a caller is an ISP special agent by contacting one of the seven investigative regions throughout the state, which can be found on the ISP website. ​ ​ ​

If you have provided personal or financial information to a caller, or think someone may have stolen your identifying information, ISP recommends contacting each of the three credit bureaus to put a free security freeze on your credit. ​ This will prevent someone from opening credit in your name.

You can also call the Illinois Attorney General’s Identity Theft Hotline at 1-866-999-5630 (7-1-1 relay service). ​ You will be assigned a Consumer Advocate to guide you through the recovery process.