The Chatham-Kent Police Service have issued a fraud warning across the community.
Police officials say yesterday afternoon, a Chatham woman received several telephone calls, one claiming to be from Immigration Canada and one claiming to be from a local police service.
“It appears as though the suspect(s) were fraudulently using legitimate numbers to make these calls via a process known as ‘spoofing’,” police officials said in a press release.
“The woman was told that she had committed a crime and had two options. She could either admit it or contest it in court. She chose the latter as she did not commit the offence. As instructed, the woman transferred $1,850 to Thailand via Western Union to cover court costs and lawyer fees. The woman called police last night once she realized she had been the victim of this scam.”
Caller ID Spoofing disguises telephone numbers appearing on a caller ID display, police say.
This tool allows scammers to disguise their calls, as the call will appear to be coming from local or familiar numbers to trick people into answering the phone and trusting the caller.
The Chatham-Kent Police Service would like to offer the following safety tips:
– Don’t trust your Caller ID display. It may appear as a legitimate business, but in reality may be scammer.
– If you get a call from someone purporting to be from a company or government agency looking for personal information, hang up and call them back using the contact information posted on their website. This will help you verify the authenticity of their call.
– Never give out personal or financial information over the phone, especially if you did not initiate the call.
If you would like to report a fraudulent call, email or text, please report the incident to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm
I really don’t see how people fall for this type of crap!!!!!!!!!! Obviously if you have done nothing wrong then why would you fall for sending money??????
Tell the people on the phone to go to hell and hang up.If you did something wrong the police will come to your door NOT CALL YOU ON THE PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!