Scam telephone calls are on the rise in Shasta County. People are called by someone claiming to be law enforcement or an IRS representative. The Caller I.D. can’t be trusted because the callers can make it say whatever they want. The nature of the scam varies, but in nearly every case, the caller demands that a payment be made immediately over the phone, either by credit card or by pre-paid cards purchased at stores. That’s something that is never done by any public agency ever. If someone should receive such a call they should ask the caller for their name, badge number, agency, call back number and case number, and then they should hang up. No personal information should ever be given over the phone. Elderly people are often targeted in these scams and everyone should be aware if they see someone buying multiple prepaid cards, so they can be warned it’s probably be a scam. There’s a lot more info at stopfraud.gov.