DEA scammers want your money

They’re three initials that would scare just about anybody. So if someone called your house claiming to be from the DEA you’d snap to attention.

Carl Kotowski, Special Agent in charge of the Baltimore field office of the Drug Enforcement Administration says people are getting calls from scammers  impersonating DEA agents.  They claim you’ve been caught buying illegal prescriptions off the web and say you’ll be arrested or searched if you don’t wire the money.

Kotowski says some victims are scared into paying thousands. "Just the threat of being arrested or having a search executed at your home - for some that could be quite frightening.  So naturally before people check into this some just remit payment and hope the payment goes away."

The feds say this is nothing but a scam. “"In no way, shape or form will a DEA employee ever call someone and say we need payment for something or send us a check.  That never happens, never happens," Kotowski says.

But that won't stop the scammers from trying to make you believe.  Kotowski says more than a thousand of these calls have been reported to the DEA...with some using a Maryland number and claiming to be from the Baltimore field office.  If you get one this kind of calls - the real DEA wants to hear from you.