The phone rings and you screen your call as usual. As you hear the message, a feeling of dread grows in the pit of your stomach. The young sounding American Red Cross representative says he needs to speak with you about your spouse. You pick up the phone, adrenalin building.

The understanding voice on the other end of the phone line says your spouse has been injured on duty and was med-evacuated to a hospital. In order to begin treatment, paperwork needs to be completed and personal information like their social security number and date of birth need to be verified.

Wait a second! What’s wrong with this picture? First of all, the Red Cross does not report any type of casualty information to family members. The Department of Defense (DOD) will contact families directly if their military member has been injured. And, of course the DOD has all of your family member’s information on file. In addition, American Red Cross representatives will contact military members/dependents directly only in response to an emergency message initiated by your family. The bottom line here is that military family members are urged not to give out any personal information over the phone if contacted by unknown/unverified individuals, to include confirmation that your spouse is deployed.

This kind of scam is called pretextual calling. It is a form of phishing. The thief is making up a story to scare you into giving up one of your most valuable assets- your personal information. Hang up if anyone on the phone starts asking for that information. He or she is a criminal trying to steal an identity.

Here’s a different scenario - a pretextual scam that has been reported in more than a dozen states. The phone rings and you screen your call as usual. As you hear the message, a feeling of dread grows in the pit of your stomach. The caller identifies himself as an officer of the court. He says you failed to report for jury duty and that a warrant is out for your arrest. You say you never received a notice. To clear it up, the caller says he'll need some information for "verification purposes"-your birth date, social security number, maybe even a credit card number. What should you do? You know the answer......Never, ever, give out personal information when you receive an unsolicited phone call. Make sure to tell your kids, your grandkids, your parents, your grandparents...the elderly are especially vulnerable.

As always, be aware, alert and informed as to any scams surfacing to steal your identity.

Darity Wesley is CEO and Legal Counsel for Privacy Solutions, Inc. a San Diego based consulting firm. Her team of Privacy Gurus® work with you to create policies and procedures to establish the expectation of privacy for your members, clients, customers, prospects, affiliates, associates, employees and vendors. You can reach her at (619)670-9462 or Darity@privacygurus.com