Stop Spam and Spoofed Calls
Kansas residents continue to receive thousands of unwanted calls annually from scammers, often using spoofing techniques. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), residents filed 24,043 complaints about unwanted calls in fiscal year 2025. Robocalls made up 13,517 of these calls, while 8,015 were from live callers. The leading complaint topics for Kansas included medical and prescription calls, debt-reduction pitches, and imposter-style calls.
The Federal Communications Commission states that caller ID spoofing happens when a caller deliberately falsifies the information shown on your caller ID. While the technique is not illegal in itself, it becomes illegal when used to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain something of value.
To limit the impact of spoofed calls, several Kansas state agencies have issued warnings to state residents. For instance, the Kansas Corporation Commission warned in October 2024 about callers falsely claiming to work with the KCC, offering a 30% discount on electric bills, asking about Medicare or Medicaid eligibility, and then requesting credit card information. The Kansas Department of Revenue also published scam warnings, including tax-related scams and impersonation attempts, and warned Kansans to be cautious about suspicious calls, texts, and websites.
Common spoofing tactics reported in Kansas include:
- Neighbor Spoofing: Scammers mimic local numbers to increase the likelihood that you will pick up the call, often using your area code and prefix.
- Fake Government Impersonation: Fraudsters may claim to be from the Kansas Department of Revenue or the Social Security Administration to demand immediate payment.
- Urgent Utility Robocalls: These automated messages often claim your service will be disconnected unless you pay over the phone.
To protect yourself from spam and scams perpetrated via spoofed calls, never share sensitive financial information, and always let unknown calls go to voicemail. If a caller claims to be from a government agency, hang up and call the office back using an official number from their verified website.