The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) says Connecticut residents are at risk of scam calls that pretend to be from the U.S. Marshal.

These new scam calls, also known as “neighbor spoofing,” are trying to convince people to send financial payments. The scammers can modify the caller IDs to make them appear legitimate. Officials warn that these spoofed calls can appear to come from friends, family members, government agencies or even medical offices.

During the calls, scammers may claim the victim owes a fine for missing jury duty or committing another offense and threaten arrest. They then instruct victims to avoid arrest by paying the supposed fine with a prepaid debit card, credit card, or gift card and providing the card number over the phone.

Things to remember:

If you believe you may have been a victim of this type of scam, you are encouraged to report the incident to your local U.S. Marshals Service office and to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).