Got a scam call once that said I was up for criminal charges for tax problems in some other state, and Mr. Scammer was ready to represent me in court! Just give him my info and he is going to be There For Me!
I asked him why I hadn't received any notice of this.
"They didn't have the right address and the proceedings will start in two hours!"
Oh no, I said. How awful. Please give me the name of the courthouse and the docket ID so I can call them to see if I can make arrangements.
That is not how "you are going to be on trial for a crime you didn't commit" works
No real lawyer is going to volunteer to represent someone they've never heard of without at least a solid discussion of what's going on.
Always ask for the extra details. Account numbers. Location. Date of the incident in question. If it relates to court, name of the judge; name of the prosecutor. If it's an offer of money, who's giving it, and do they have a website? If it's a bill, what's the invoice number, when was it created, what's the source company's contact info?
And by the way, Caller Trying To Avert Disaster By Calling Me, A Stranger - what's your name, email, phone number, and relation to this incident? Where did you get my number?
Ah, there's a virus on my computer, you say? Which one? ("The one running Windows.") ("Which computer? Which version of Windows?") (At the time I got this call, I didn't know it was a scam - I just knew we had 5 computers in the house, some of which had different versions of Windows.)
Law enforcement agencies that call you - which, as noted above, is NOT how this works - will be VERY CLEAR about their bona fides. They will establish which agency they are calling from; they will give you their name; they will give you whatever ID number they have. (Badge number, employee ID, whatever.) They WILL give you a contact number so you can call them back.
For any of the "I think this might be a scam" issue: Start with,
"What's your name and phone number, in case we get disconnected?" Then ask for the case number, invoice number, account number - something that identifies "you" on their end.
Anything legit will WANT you to call them back if there's a problem.
Scams don't want to give you a way to contact them. (Or they give you a number and it goes to their scam center - but you can't get the person who called you.)
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