WATERVILLE — Police Chief Joseph Massey is warning people to be aware of a new scam that is targeting people whose personal information has been compromised through data breaches at big-box stores.

A person whose credit card information was stolen as part of such a breach might get a phone call later from someone claiming to be from the Federal Trade Commission saying money has been recovered from the breach and the victim might have money coming to him or her.

The caller then asks for the victim’s personal information, claiming to want to return money.

“If you were a victim of a data breach, you might just fall for this one,” Massey said Thursday. “This is just another one of those scams, but I think it’s a scam people may fall for. The Federal Trade Commission would not call you with that type of information, just like the IRS. They do not call you — they’d contact you by mail. They already have your information.”

Massey said no one has called the Waterville Police Department yet to report being a victim of the new scam, but he got a notice from Maine Identity Services LLC saying it doesn’t usually send out alerts about scams because there are so many of them. Maine Identity reported it had just learned of a new scam police should know about in which the scammer tells victims that all they need to do to get their money back from the data breach is give the caller their personal information.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17