Citizenship and Immigration Services warns of phone scam involving Department of Homeland Security numbers

WASHINGTON - The Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman issued a warning Thursday about a phone scam involving Department of Homeland Security numbers.

The scam is targeting people around the country by spoofing the DHS numbers and the main number for the ombudsman, according to a press release. Spoofing is a technique that involves masking a scammer by using a legitimate phone number.

According to the release, these two numbers were compromised: (202) 357-8100 and (855) 882-8100.

According to the ombudsman, scammers have tried scaring people with the threat of identity theft to gain access to private information.

But any calls from government entities will not require a person to provide their social security or credit card information over the phone, the release stated.

Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of the scam should call the DHS OIG hotline at (800) 323-8603 or file a complaint online at oig.dhs.gov. You may also contact the Federal Trade Commission to file a complaint or report identity theft.

This story was reported from Los Angeles.