Staff Reports
In a recent press release sent to the North Gwinnett Voice, the Gwinnett County Police Department warns of an officer impersonation scam happening in our area. In the release, Gwinnett PD states that there’s been a wave of scam phone calls where the caller is pretending to be an officer. These callers are obtaining the names of legitimate Gwinnett County police officers from the internet to make people believe it’s really the Gwinnett PD.
Public Information Officer Jake Smith states, “I was recently notified that someone attempted the scam claiming to be me and calling from a number associated with GCPD. This particular caller demanded Bitcoin.”
The release says that the phone scammers go on to threaten the person who answered the phone with arrest or another action if money is not sent to them. Variations on this scam include:
- A utility and service will be immediately terminated if payment isn’t received
- A relative who has been arrested and needs money for bail or to remove a charge
- Immediate payment is needed for an outstanding warrant/ticket or the victim will be arrested
- The IRS and back taxes are owed
- A pre-approved loan is available or a lottery has been won, if the victim will send a small start-up fee
- An immigration authority claiming a person will be deported if payment isn’t received
In each call, the common thread is the callers ask for payment on prepaid debit cards (such as Green Dot), gift cards, cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin), or wire transfer, which is appealing to criminals because the money is difficult to track, if not impossible. A recent trend is a demand for cash to be sent via FedEx.
To make themselves even more credible to their victims, the suspects are using a computer program to make trick a person’s caller I.D. to show the phone number coming from a legitimate agency or any other number they want.
Gwinnett County Police Department wishes to stress that they will never ask for payment of any sort over the phone.
Some prevention tips from the police are:
- Be suspicious of anyone calling and demanding immediate payment, especially by:
- prepaid debit card (such as Green Dot)
- gift cards
- cryptocurrency (such as bitcoin)
- wire transfer
- cash via FedEx or other couriers
- Ask for the caller’s identity and independently contact the agency. Do not call the number that appears on your caller I.D.
- Do not disclose personal or financial information to unsolicited callers or by email
- Do not wire money or provide bank account numbers or financial transaction card numbers (credit, debit, Green Dot, or any other prepaid card) to anyone you don’t know
