They say scammers are defrauding people to get their stimulus checks, control their bank accounts or steal their identities.
Berks County District Attorney John Adams said he and his fellow district attorneys across the region have seen a big uptick in complaints.
“Stealing identities, stealing credit cards, stealing bank account information, stealing checks, stealing mail,” he said.
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Lately, Adams said scammers have been calling people, claiming to be an IRS representative and asking for critical information about bank accounts and Social Security numbers.
“The IRS will not call you, and the only people who would call you are people who would try to take that money from you,” he explained.
Some mailed stimulus checks have been outright stolen from rural postal boxes, along with bank and credit card statements.
“We’re at a time where we have to be extra careful,” Adams said. “We need to be careful to protect our personal identification information, be it our Social Security number, our bank account information, our addresses, our phone numbers. Don’t give it out.”