Del. State Police Phone Number “Spoofed” In Apparent Scam
A Delaware State Police phone number for Troop 5 in Bridgeville has been spoofed on at least two recent occasions.
State police said Monday night that one person was told he or she had to pay a fine on a sex offender charge.
Another was threatened for arrest for alleged “jury duty fines.”
According to Delaware State Police, they never request payment of fines, traffic tickets or bail. Any such transactions are conducted by courts, and never over the phone.
Call spoofing allows the perpetrator to disguise their number by using one that belongs to a law enforcement organization or government agency.
A recipient of such a call should feel free to hang up, and should never give out personal information or bow to pressure to make an immediate payment.
Delaware State Police provided these tips for thwarting an attempted phone scam:
- Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. If you do so by accident, hang up.
- If a caller (live or recorded) suggests hitting a button to stop receiving calls from them, hang up. This can be a trick to engage you in conversation.
- Never give out any personally identifiable information – for example, account numbers, Social Security Number, passwords or PINs, or your mother’s maiden name.
- If a caller claims to be with a legitimate company, call back using the phone number on a statement you have from them, or on their verified, secure website. This is particularly important if the caller asks you to verify personal information or make a payment.
- If you are immediately pressured for information – be cautious. You are not obligated to answer any question asked of you.
- Set your own password for your voicemail. Some voicemail services are set up to automatically allow access to your mailbox if you call in from your own phone. If a scammer spoofs your number, they can access your messages unless there is a password or PIN requirement in place.
- Use a call blocking tool (talk to your phone company) or reputable app on your mobile device. There are different options for different platforms. Do some research and choose the one that makes the most sense for you.
