Phone scammers are posing as employees of the Iowa State Police. The Iowa Department of Public Safety Division of Criminal Investigation is warning citizens of the scam that is misrepresenting the department. The callers claim there is a warrant issued for the citizen. The scammer then says to clear the warrant the citizen needs to send money through an online account like a Google Play account. Many of these calls are from a 712 area code phone number. According to the DCI, if the citizen does not answer or hangs up on the first call, a secondary call is being reported as coming from “911” and the caller is verbally aggressive.

If you receive a phone call like this hang up and notify local law enforcement. Even if the caller ID shows it is the Department of Public Safety, hang up as the department does not demand immediate payment via prepaid cards or online accounts. Do not provide personal or financial information in these calls.