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                         March 8, 2002

WASHINGTON (ABC-C) -- The Army Benefit Center-Civilian announced Monday that they had received information about a possible scam involving retirement counseling.

Officials said several employees have reported receiving phone calls from a company (possibly based in Arkansas) telling them they have been contracted by the government to provide retirement counseling and estimate services.

The company representative then told the employees they would need to provide some personal information about their grade levels, salary and length of service before the representative could provide retirement earnings estimates. And that’s not the way it’s done, ABC-C officials said.

"Only ABC counselors would be providing information on retirement earnings estimates to civilian employees, officials said. But the employees must first request the information," officials said.

ABC-C officials are asking federal employees to be extra careful when responding to anybody calling them about retirement counseling, particularly if they are requesting personal information.

"Even OPM wouldn’t normally call employees unless they were already retired," officials said. "Employees should make sure anyone calling for personal information clearly identifies themselves as a member of one of these agencies."