SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 16, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — The Salt Lake City Police Department is warning community members about a scam involving an individual impersonating an SLCPD detective.
“Recently, Salt Lake City Police received information from a concerned community member who reported getting a phone call from an unknown person,” said a news release from SLCPD. “The caller told the victim that unless they made a payment, the SLCPD would file a lawsuit against the victim.”
The caller gave the victim the name of an actual SLCPD detective and told the victim to call the detective to resolve the lawsuit.
“When the victim called the number, the suspect on the other line — who unlawfully impersonated a police officer — gave the victim unverified police-related information in an attempt to further the scam,” the news release said. “After the victim refused to pay, the suspects kept calling back using a caller ID spoofer, which made the caller ID text read ‘POLICE.’ Thankfully, the victim in this case did not provide any money to the suspects and immediately reported the incident.”
Law enforcement impersonators are known to collect information on their victims using social media. Often, the suspects will be able to collect enough small pieces of information on their victims, including names, addresses, and ages to make it seem like they are legitimate, the news release said.
In previous cases, the scammers have claimed the victim has an outstanding warrant, that they missed jury duty, or that they have outstanding warrants.
The department reminds community members that it does not call individuals and demand or request money under any circumstances.
To avoid becoming the victim of a scam, community members should:
- Never give out personal or financial information.
- Be wary of any person cold-calling and asking you for a sudden payment of any type.
- Never send money to a stranger using wire transfers, online cash transfer apps or gift cards as a form of payment.
- Avoid posting personal information on social media, which can be a goldmine of information for scammers.
If you receive a receive suspicious call, you are urged to stop the conversation immediately, hang up and report the call by calling the SLCPD at 801-799-3000.
