‘It’s disgusting and evil is what it is,’ Bellingham police say of recent phone scams
The Bellingham Police Department took to social media to warn Whatcom County residents of another scam attempt spoofing the department’s main phone number.
But with this scam, thieves are using the names of active or retired Bellingham Police officers to lend more legitimacy to their claims and create more fear and panic in their potential victims.
“It’s cruel is what it is — just cruel,” Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald. “It’s taking advantage of an opportunity and manipulating it. It’s disgusting and evil is what it is.”
Murphy said she’s seen three to four reports of similar scam attempts, including one that was successful, so far this week. That prompted her to take to the department’s Facebook page to post a warning Wednesday evening, March 17.
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office posted a warning about a similar scam Feb. 9.
“If they’re spoofing one phone number and doing this, chances are they’re doing more in the area,” Murphy said.
According to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s post, many of the scammers operate outside Washington state or the country, but are able to make the numbers look like they are calling locally and making it very hard for law enforcement to track, identify and arrest them.
The scam can vary, but according to Murphy and the Facebook post, it usually includes:
▪ A scammer calling from what appears to be a legitimate phone number. The number will check out as being from a law enforcement agency if its looked up online.
▪ The scammer identifies as being a police officer or law enforcement official. Recently, real names of officers (either active or recently retired) are used. “This adds another layer of credibility,” Murphy said. “You can check them out and see that there is one, and then think, ‘Oh, this must be real. Or Bellingham is a small town, so you may have heard of an officer by that name before.”
▪ The scammer then uses some sort of threat — such as a warrant out for the victim’s arrest or missed jury duty — to elicit fear in the victim or news of a tragedy involving a family member to evoke an emotional response. “Their whole goal is to put emotional fright on the poor victim, making it less likely for the victim to see the red flags of the requests that come next. ... They put the victim in fight or flight mode, where they truly believe what the scammer is saying.”
▪ The scammer then demands payment — either money to avoid arrest or pay for urgent hospital bills. “Usually, they want victims to pay using gift cards,” Murphy said. “Sometimes they tell the victim to stay on the phone with them and drive to the store immediately and they guide them through the whole process. They know the process, too. If there are limits on gift cards, they’ll stay on the phone with you and tell you to buy a gift card here and then go to another store and buy another gift card. And they won’t let the victim hang up. They keep creating more fear.”
▪ Once the cards have been bought, scammers often have victims take and send them pictures of the activation codes on gift cards. “That’s the really sad part. Because as soon as they have those numbers, they have someone else spending the money, so by the time you realize it’s a scam, the money is gone and can’t be recovered. The saddest part of the whole thing is they only need to be successful once or twice a day if they’re getting $8,000 or $10,000 from a victim.”
Spotting the scam
Murphy said a call is likely a scam if:
▪ A caller claims to be law enforcement attempting to collect bail — “Law enforcement never collects bail or threatens to arrest you and take you to jail if you don’t pay bail. Bail is not in law enforcement’s purview. Bail goes through the courts or bail bonds people,” she said.
▪ A caller claims to be law enforcement and says you will go to jail for missed jury duty — “Law enforcement doesn’t deal with jury duty — it’s a civil matter,” she said.
▪ A caller says that a relative was involved in a DUI crash and needs to pay bail on the spot or go to jail — “It just doesn’t happen that way. If you are arrested, you are booked into jail or you go to court and they set the amount of bail.”
▪ A caller claims to be law enforcement saying a relative was in a serious accident and needs money for hospital bills — “Law enforcement doesn’t collect hospital bills, and if there was a serious accident or injury, we would do everything in our ability to notify relatives in person, not over the phone.”
▪ A caller claims to be law enforcement and demands payment via gift card — “We don’t collect money and we definitely don’t collect gift cards.”
If you or someone you love suspects they have fallen victim to a scam, Murphy said it is important to file a report with your local law enforcement agency — “Don’t be too embarrassed to call,” she said. “These people are really good at what they do, and they are spoofing legitimate-looking numbers and using legitimate names of officers. They are trying to trick you.”
If you believe you’ve been contacted by a scammer but did not lose any money to them, Murphy suggests filing a report Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov.
Avoiding the scam
To help reduce the chances you or a loved one falls victim to one of these scams, Murphy suggested all families get together and discuss what to do, especially with grandparents or young kids.
“Families need to identify a way to spot a scam,” she said. “Tell grandparents to hang up and call another family member first before they do anything else. Parents, have your grandparents call you. Maybe set up some sort of family code word — anything that allows you to watch out for the other generations in your family.”
Murphy said she’d also like to see local retailers take steps to reduce the chances of success for this type of scam and watch out for people who are more likely to be vulnerable to them.
“I’d like to see them become more proactive,” Murphy said. “If they see somebody buying multiple gift cards in the same amount, maybe they can ask some questions about it, especially if there is somebody on the phone with them. Ask a few questions, make it difficult for scammers to get away with this. Maybe make it a manager override, just to stall these people down and make it tougher for them. I think it’s a good way stores can help look out for our community.”
