The Brown County Sheriff’s Office is alerting the public of a new scam circulating in the area.

Sheriff John Merchant said a local financial institution has reported receiving numerous calls from people concerned about an automated telephone call stating their social security number has been put on hold. The the automated message gives them a number to contact in order to correct the situation.

“What we’re trying to alert everybody to is, don’t call the number back. It is a scam,” Sheriff Merchant said. “It was reported to us that the folks who have called this number these places have their security number and it is a concern to them.”

Merchant said residents who may be impacted should report the scam to their state’s attorney general office.

“The Social Security Office is not going to call,” Merchant said. “If there’s anything at all they will be getting a hold of you by a more reputable form of notification such as through the mail that’s verifiable versus something like this.”

With the increase in scams circulating the area Merchant said when in doubt, call law enforcement officials.

“It’s rampant right now,” Merchant said. “When there’s a concern get a hold of me…We’ll put it out to the public so we can keep folks from being victimized.”