The news of the day, from an official SFGov department which should NOT be using .org as a suffix, and which should prolly find a different acronym, for a reason what’s painfully obvious.
“*** PRESS RELEASE ***
San Francisco Public Safety Officials Warn of Scam Spoofing the Police Phone Numbers
San Francisco, CA – San Francisco public safety officials are informing the public about a consumer scam where aggressive telephone calls are being made by scammers posing as San Francisco police officers. Concerned residents that received these calls today reported the scam to 9-1-1 dispatchers.
These callers claim they have a warrant for the call recipient’s arrest and demand payment in gift cards in order avoid arrest. Technology allows the scammer to “spoof” or alter the Caller ID to make it appear that the call is coming from the San Francisco Police Department’s Non-Emergency Number which is 415-553-0123.
Neither the San Francisco Police Department nor any other City and County of San Francisco agency will call you to demand payment and threaten arrest for any matter.
If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the SFPD or any other law enforcement or government agency demanding payment, immediately HANG UP. Under no circumstances should you engage them in conversation or provide any personal information. Make notes about what the caller said and do one of the following:
If you’ve been targeted by this scam, please report the incident by completing the following online report: http://sanfranciscopolice.org/reports#file-report. You may also call 311 to file a harassing phone call report or go to any SFPD District Station to file a report.
You know, kind of like this.
And did you catch that, they’re saying, “DON’T CALL 911 FOR THIS, YOU KNUCKLEHEADS,” more or less.
Until the next scam, Gentle Readers…
