It has been 29 years since Amber Hagerman was abducted in Texas and killed, inspiring the nationwide system that alerts citizens to missing children, usually thought to be in imminent danger.

Phone scammers posing as Amber Alert "representatives" are offering to meet at homes and gather personal information to "register" children, a procedure that is not actually practiced.

State officials are warning the public about scammers who are trying to take advantage of California's AMBER Alert system to extract personal information from victims, authorities said.