Area residents are being urged by the La Grande Police Department to refrain from giving out any personal information if they receive calls from people posing as representatives of the Social Security Administration.

The police department, according to a LGPD news release, recently has received numerous reports from people who have gotten fraudulent calls misrepresenting the Social Security Administration.

An example of one of the automated calls states: “This call is from the Department of Social Security Administration. The reason you have received this phone call from our department is to inform you that we just suspended your Social Security number, because we found some suspicious activity, so if you want to know about this case just press 1. Thank you.”

These calls and others like them are scams, according to the LGPD. Unfortunately, phone scams are increasingly common.

“If you receive this type of call, you should not engage with the caller or provide personal information, banking information or money in response to requests or threats,” said La Grande Police Department Lt. Gary Bell in the news release. “Official entities do not typically contact members of the public to request personal information over the phone. They certainly will not make threats in order to obtain personal information or money. In these circumstances the call is fraudulent and you should just hang up.”

Following are tips from the LGPD on how one can avoid falling victim to phone scams:

• Don’t give out personal information: You should never give your Social Security number, bank information or other personal details to an unknown caller.

• Don’t trust caller ID: Scammers can trick your caller ID into appearing as though the call is coming from a government official or another location that may cause you to think it’s legitimate.

• Don’t trust a caller because they know some personal information: It’s most likely a scam if the caller asks you to confirm this information.

If you receive a suspicious call of this nature, you can report the information online at https://oig.ssa.gov/report or by calling the Social Security Administration at 800-269-0271.

Additional information and options for reporting can be found at the Federal Trade Commission website: https://identitytheft.gov/ssa.