The Toronto Police Service is warning of yet another scam being reported by residents, and this time fraudsters are actually posing as the police themselves.
In a news release issued Thursday, the TPS said there have been numerous incidents over the last few weeks where members of the public have received telephone calls from what appear to be Toronto Police Service numbers.
Torontonians have reportedly received phone calls from a number that displays as 416-808 and four other subsequent numbers. And when they miss the call and then phone the number back, they then discover that the initial call was a hoax and not actually made by police.
Public Safety Alert, Telephone Scams Using Police Numbers https://t.co/eMajNeSXsR @TPSOperations @TorontoPolice
— Ilamaran Nagarasa (@journalistmaran) August 27, 2020
"The Toronto Police Service would like to advise the public that calls made by members in Divisions and Units do not display with a number and appear as Unknown Caller or Private Number," notes the release.
"Additionally, service members would leave a voicemail, offer their name, badge number and a call back number for the public to call and confirm specific details."
The TPS is also advising the public that they, as well as any other government agency, would not ask the public to deposit money using Bitcoin machines.
Scam artists, on the other hand, have been known to try and cheat the public out of money in this way.
The TPS says there are a number of fraudulent calls being reported where unknown people have the capability to mimic telephone numbers and place outgoing calls, a practice which is sometimes called "spoofing."
They say members of the public should never provide or confirm personal details over the phone, and people should instead follow up with whatever agency the caller claims to be from to make sure they're aware of these calls.
by Mira Miller via blogTO
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