State police warns residents of scam callers impersonating officers

Will County — Illinois State Police issued a warning to residents Thursday to be wary of phone scammers impersonating its personnel.

According to a news release, several reports have been made in the past week from individuals who received phone calls from a person claiming to be a state police investigator and telling the residents that their identity has been stolen. These calls are fraudulent.

Illinois State Police agents do not make cold calls and will never request personal or financial information over the phone, according to the release. The state police also will not ask you to verify information in this way.

Illinois State Police advises anyone who receives a call like this to ask for the caller’s name, badge number and phone number before hanging up. Do not provide any personal information to the caller. You should then call your region’s investigative office, which can be found on the Illinois State Police website to verify the scam.

Anyone who has provided information to a scammer in this manner or thinks their identity may have been stolen should contact each of the three credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and Transunion – to put a security freeze on their credit and prevent anyone from opening credit cards in their name.

They also can call the Illinois Attorney General’s Identity Theft Hotline at 1-866-999-5630, where a consumer advocate will help guide them through the recovery process.