The Shadow
Police Chief, Christopher Smith of the Covington Police department has been made aware of a new and sophisticated type of phone scam. Several citizens have commented on social media or stopped by the station and reported receiving the fraudulent calls. The individuals targeted are often elderly and called by someone claiming to be from the Covington Police Department. To make the call seem legitimate they usually give the name of an actual officer from the department and can give personal information about both the officer they are impersonating as well as the person
receiving the call. The call often shows up as a local number. They may try to convince you that there is a warrant for your arrest or that your identity has been stolen. There is no limit to the extremes these criminals will go to when attempting to steal money from an unsuspecting victim.
Unfortunately, these scammers have had some success within our community using this con. Recently, a Covington citizen was called by someone claiming to be with the Covington Division of Police. They gave her the name of an actual Covington officer as well as the name of police chief Christopher Smith to make her comfortable that they were authentic. The scammers then continued with their lies, sternly claiming that she owed a substantial amount in back taxes and that there were currently two open warrants for her arrest and was told she would have to appear in court to handle this matter at a later date. Being very concerned by the scammers claims she was relieved when the man claimed that she could avoid these charges if she were to provide them with $3,000 on gift cards. Unfortunately, she had little knowledge about the length scammers would go to run a successful scheme. In this case the criminals received a substantial amount of money.
Chief Smith warns that most of these calls originate from overseas in countries with very little to no regulation governing this type of harmful activity. Such countries have call centers with hundreds of employees, whose only job it is to call people in countries like ours and deceive them into giving away their hard-earned money.
Though there is little that can be done at the local level to prosecute scammers, there are things you can do to protect yourself from falling victim to these unconscionable predators. The most important thing you can do is to educate yourself about new scams that are being used. Chief Smith says the tactics being used tend to evolve and progress along with technology so it’s important to use resources like the news and even social media to stay up to date with new types of scams. Chief Smith updates the Covington Police Departments Facebook page daily with new tips and information they’ve received, making it a great tool for staying up to date on this topic.
One of the easiest ways to ensure you don’t fall prey to a scam is to hang up the phone when you’re suspicious and use the dial pad to call the number of the person to authenticate that it’s them. It’s also important to note that the Covington Police Department and other legitimate law enforcement agencies do not call citizens over warrants or traffic citations, nor will they call you seeking payment for state or federal taxes. A good thing to keep in mind is that scammers use every tool at their disposal to achieve their goal including social media. The more information you put onto social media sites the more information they have to use against you in a scam phone call.
This makes it of the utmost importance to minimize your social media footprint and never give out your personal private data.
If you fall victim to a scammer and suffer a financial loss, you’re encouraged to call your local police department on their non-emergency number and fill out a report.
For Covington residents that number is 540-965-3333.
