During the phone calls, they insist that the potential victims owe back taxes and must make payments immediately with pre-paid debit cards or by wiring money. They even threaten potential victims with being arrested, deported, or having their driver’s licenses revoked.

In instances when they leave a message, they urge potential listeners to either call back immediately or to retain an attorney. The scam has reportedly reaped more than $1 million from unsuspecting victims. The Treasury Inspector office says it has received more than 20,000 reports of the suspicious phone calls. The scam, of course, is just one of many being orchestrated that places American’s at risk of becoming crime victims.

For advisors, however, the common occurrence of phone scams creates a special opportunity to deepen relationships with clients and prospects. It’s hard to say just how common telephone scams are, but judging by the variety of criminal actions being reported, it’s safe to say that there is no shortage of unscrupulous thieves dialing for dollars.

Consider the following developments:

• In Northwestern Florida, scammers have claimed to represent Gulf Power. The thieves have called business owners and have threatened to suspend their electric power if the potential victims don’t make immediate payments.

• In central Louisiana, scammers are claiming to be law enforcement officials. During phone calls, they claim that individuals have warrants for arrest for outstanding fines or court settlements. They claim the individuals must make immediate payments or face being arrested.

• In another scam, callers claim to be raising funds for local police benevolence societies. They claim that the only way listeners can make a donation is by making an immediate credit card payment and they refuse to mail out literature, saying doing so is an unnecessary expense that could drain funds away from their charitable goals.

• Scammers may also call to say they can save listeners money by transferring their credit balances to lower interest charging accounts. In the process, they gather victims’ credit card numbers which are then used for unauthorized purposes.

• Thieves will also place bogus advertisements and then dupe callers into making down payments for products that will never be delivered.

Financial advisors would be well served to reach out to their clients and prospects regarding the scams. They should start by saying that the scams, or least certain ones, can be highly believable, so that even intelligent and street-wise individuals can become victims.

They should then say that as a financial advisor, they would like to help their clients avoid becoming victims. s highly unusual for reputable organizations to demand payments over the telephone.

Advisors should explain that clients who receive telephone calls demanding payments should offer to call the company back at a phone number that is known to be legitimate. For example, if a caller claims to be with a local utility company, insist that you will continue the conversation only after calling a number that is printed on monthly bills.

Individuals should also be advised to refrain from giving out Social Security numbers during telephone calls. Callers can also report suspicious calls to their local law enforcement officials or by calling the Federal Trade Commission. Information on the Commission is available here.

Advisors should end the phone calls by offering to help clients and prospects with their finances in person, rather than over the telephone.