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Beware telephone fraud |
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December 20, 2017 |
By Sergeant Foster Mayo
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Foster Mayo has been a career law
enforcement officer having served with
Salt Lake Police Department and retiring
at the Bonners Ferry Police Department
as deputy police chief. He continues to
serve Boundary County as a reserve
sheriff's deputy and writes crime
prevention and safety articles to help
the public. |
“Hello, Grandad, is that you? This is your
grandson.”
This is how innocently it started. It was not
his grandson, but a crafty scammer who was
trying to bilk the old man out of $2,500. I
first heard about it when the incredibly alert
people at Columbia Bank called me and told me
that my father-in-law was drawing money out of
his savings account.
A call to the real grandson proved that the
caller was a fraud and the request of money a
scam. The money was supposed to be wired to an
account in British Columbia. That was important,
because it is next to impossible to extradite
and prosecute across state lines, virtually
impossible across international boundaries.
Voice Mail Fraud – Hackers breaking into
your phone system
Older citizens are an obvious target, but they
are not the only victims. Voice mail fraud can
happen to anyone. Hackers can break into your
system, especially if you have not changed the
original password that you were given by your
phone provider. International and direct dials
are charged against your phone bill.
Instead, create a complex password and change it
often. Carefully scrutinize your phone bill.
Cell Phone Cloning – Cloning of your
mobile identification number (MIN)
Using sophisticated electronic monitors,
criminals can read you phone’s electronic serial
number and phone number. By programming a cloned
phone, the criminal will make direct dial and
international calls against your bill.
Carefully scrutinize your bill and notify your
phone company when you find an illegal call(s).
‘Too Good To Be True’
Beware the stranger bearing gifts. You won’t be
a winner in a contest you never entered. The
free cruise will not be free, the millionaire
will not be sharing and the real
credit company should already know your personal
numbers and information.
If the caller becomes demanding, and they do,
hang up!
809 Area Code Phone Scams
You receive an urgent call of a family emergency
or other crisis allegedly needing your immediate
response, usually with some sort of money
transfer. My phones have the ability to show the
incoming call number. Area code 809 is the
Dominican Republic, a major site for phone
scams. I hang up, never giving them a chance to
try their scam on me. I’ll never miss the phony
free cruise to the Bahamas that was going to
ruin my credit before I ever got on board.
Dialing 011 is usually necessary to reach an
international location. Beware of receiving
calls from this phone code.
Computer Fraud
The above listed scams can be carried out
through your computer as well. A call from
someone with a foreign accent purporting to be
from Microsoft probably really isn’t. What he
does want to do is recover your personal numbers
from your computer memory and make your money
his.
If you suspect a fraud, hang up. Contact your
phone company or the state Attorney General or
the FCC at 888-225-5322. Better yet, DON'T BE A
VICTIM!
This article was written with the assistance
of a crime prevention pamphlet distributed by
the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office written by
National Crime Prevention Council and the
Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department. |
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