This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A persistent telephone con extorting bogus fees or fines under threat of arrest has taken a particularly brazen turn: scammers are "spoofing" the caller I.D. of the Salt Lake City Police Department Dispatch Center.
Police Sgt. Robin Heiden says that when targeted victims answer the calls, the connection shows as an SLCPD number, lending purported legitimacy to the scam.
Investigation of this new twist on an old con game has the full attention of SLCPD's Financial Crimes Unit.
An unspecified, but growing number of victims report having fallen prey to fraudsters demanding payments via pre-paid money cards. Up to six cases a day are being added to investigators' files, police say.
Typically, the fraudsters have claimed to be collection agents from utilities or various government agencies. In this latest incarnation of the con, victims are told there are warrants out for their arrests — and only swift payment will keep them out of handcuffs.
The victims are ordered to load cash onto a Money Pak/Green Dot prepaid money card. Once the victim supplies the card's security code, the scammers withdraw the money remotely; there is no way to get it back.
SLCPD asks anyone receiving such a call to hang up and notify the applicable agency, based on a published or known official telephone number. Recipients of such calls also should notify SLCPD at 801-799-3000, or anonymously text the keyword TIPSLCPD plus any relevant information to 274637. Reference: GreenDot.
Twitter: @remims