Shasta’s Health and Human Services Agency warns against scam phone calls 

Shasta County’s Health and Human Services Agency issued a public warning today about a rise in scam phone calls from criminals impersonating HHSA and other government employees.

Many incidents have involved “spoofing,” or the falsification of caller information to make the call appear to be coming from an HHSA phone number. Some callers have also impersonated employees of the Social Security Administration and other government agencies, the agency wrote. 

Scammers often use local numbers, or numbers spoofing a trusted company or government agency such as HHSA. These callers may attempt to steal residents’ money or sensitive personal information — including social security numbers — for fraudulent purposes. 

Residents should be especially careful when “County of Shasta” is explicitly named in a caller ID, or if the call comes from a number they recognize as an HHSA number, the agency noted. If a caller names themselves as a government official, such as a representative of the Social Security Administration, residents should immediately hang up and call back the agency’s official number. 

The HHSA Customer Service Center can be reached at (877) 652-0731 for calls about CalFresh, Medi-Cal, CalWORKs, or General Assistance, and all other HHSA services can be reached at (530) 229-8400.

Moe Shimizu is a student at Yale University. She’s reporting for Shasta Scout as a 2026 summer intern, with support from the Nonprofit Newsroom Internship Program — created by The Scripps Howard Fund and the Institute for Nonprofit News.

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