---
title: DHS Alerts Public of Phone Spoofing Scams on National ‘Slam the Scam’ Day
metaTitle: "DHS Spoof Scam Alert"
slug: dhs-spoof-scam-alert
date: "2020-03-05T08:32:00-06:00"
image:
  src: "https://cdn.securelogix.dev/slx/images/undefined.webp"
sourcePublisher:
  url: www.oig.dhs.gov
sourceArticle:
  url: "https://www.oig.dhs.gov"
legacySlug: dhs-alerts-public-of-phone-spoofing-scams-on-national-slam-the-scam-day
tags: [Homeland Security, Spoofing]
status: published
---

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector
 General (OIG) joins the Social Security Administration (SSA) OIG and other
 Federal agencies on March 5, 2020 for National “Slam the Scam” Day, to
 raise public awareness of government imposter telephone scams across the
 United States.

SSA OIG is engaging other Federal agencies and the private sector to
 promote a National “Slam the Scam Day” as a National Consumer
 Protection Week initiative. On March 5, SSA will participate in a USA.govhosted Twitter chat, and a Facebook Live event at Social Security.
 Both DHS OIG and SSA OIG would like to warn all Americans to hang up
 on all government imposters, and ask them to spread the word to family
 and friends. These pervasive scams—in which callers pretend to be
 government employees to mislead victims into providing personal
 information or making payments—have become a scourge on the American public. The Federal Trade Commission recently reported victims lost nearly $153 million to government imposter scams last year.

DHS telephone numbers have been used in the past as part of a telephone
 spoofing scam targeting individuals throughout the country. Spoofing is
 the deliberate falsifying of information transmitted to a caller ID display to
 disguise an identity. The perpetrators of the DHS-related scam represent
 themselves as employees with “U.S. Immigration” or other government
 entities. They alter caller ID systems to make it appear that the call is
 coming from the DHS HQ Operator number (202-282-8000) or the DHS
 Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) number (202-401-1474). The
 scammers obtain or verify personally identifiable information from their
 victims through various tactics, including by telling individuals that they
 are the victims of identity theft. The scammers also pose as law
 enforcement or immigration officials and threaten victims with arrest
 unless they make payments to the scammers using a variety of methods.
 The scammers have also emailed victims from email addresses ending in
 “uscis.org.” Many of the scammers reportedly have pronounced accents.

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
 Department of Homeland Security
 As a reminder, DHS never uses its HQ Operator or CRCL number to make
 outgoing calls of this nature. Individuals receiving phone calls from these
 numbers should not provide any personal information. It continues to be
 perfectly safe to place calls to the DHS HQ Operator and CRCL numbers
 and DHS officials may continue to be contacted by dialing the DHS HQ
 Operator number.

 DHS OIG takes these matters very seriously. Anyone who believes they
 may have been a victim of this telephone spoofing scam is urged to call the
 DHS OIG Hotline (1-800-323-8603) or file a complaint online via the DHS
 OIG website www.oig.dhs.gov.

You may also contact the Federal Trade
 Commission to file a complaint and/or report identity theft.