Phone scammers target Oregonians - Police: HANG UP!
EUGENE, Ore. -- Phone scammers have targeted Oregonians by demanding money in exchange for dropping criminal charges or clearing warrants, the Oregon State Police said Friday.
Officials said that Oregon residents have been receiving calls from foreign men identifying themselves as "Officers" or Deputies" with the Oregon State Police. According to victim reports, the callers say they will clear an arrest warrant or cancel a pending court appearance if the potential victim doesn't send in money within a certain time-frame.
These types of scams are consistent with other scams reported across the nation.
Victims told police that their caller ID showed the call originating from 911. In two particular cases the scammers provided call back numbers of 410-387-7748 or 215-302-3662.
State police officers said that this type of activity is not done by any legitimate law enforcement agency or officer.
Police ask people receiving these types of calls to hang up immediately, then call local law enforcement, or Oregon State Police at 1-877-877-9392. People can also complete a formal complaint form on-line at the OSP Justice Consumer Protection Office website.
Learned about this at Callercenter, too. The first time I read about the scam, I didn't think this is convincing. People are now more vigilant against suspicious calls. One word and the scam's already obvious.
So much for Government no call lists. I signed up for every possible no call list there is, and still get hundreds of calls every year. The ones that really irritate me are the ones that don't hang up when you hang up, you literally can't use your telephone if you have an emergency because they won't hang up. Caller Id is becoming a joke. The phone companies are not as good at technology as the crooks and scammers are.
@souptonuts: I had the same problem until I canceled my land line. Now I only have a cell and have almost no spam calls.
@hewhoo Yeh, I have thought about that, just hate to give up the land line, had same one for 35 years.
 @souptonuts  @hewhoo A land line?? Who has one of those ,its pointless in this day and age. I'm sure witch burnings had a point long ago as well but eventually people realized that was pointless.
 "the callers say they will clear an arrest warrant or cancel a pending court appearance if the potential victim doesn't send in money within a certain time-frame"
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They will do this for NOT sending money?
@mobius  Weekend and holiday schedule; no editors at work. The weekend people have no one to monitor their efforts when they cut-and-paste a news release from someone like OSP.