Manheim Borough – The MBPD is providing this community advisory about fraudulent callers identifying themselves as police officers or agency employees.  This is type of scam is occurring frequently across the Country.

Criminal methods include “spoofing” phone numbers of local police departments, sheriff’s departments, or other legitimate organizations, including banks.  Spoofing is the act of a criminal disguising phone numbers, email addresses, display names, text messages or websites to gain a potential victim’s confidence, get access to their computer systems or banking information and steal data and/or money.  Often, these calls originate from outside of the United States.

Today, MBPD officers received a call from a resident who received a phone call from a scammer with a “broken” English accent.  The caller “spoofed” an MBPD phone number when calling, and in some cases, the police department’s name is displayed on the caller ID.  Once these scammers reach an individual, they will report a variety of things including “fraudulent activity” on amazon accounts, banking accounts, U.S. citizenship status, child support and unpaid “fines”.  Scammers will also call reporting a relative has been involved in an arrest or a traffic accident and require “bail money” or some type of electronic payment.  This is often referred to as the “grandparent scam”.

The “grandparent scam” works like this:  The victim receives a phone call initiated with a phrase like “Hi Grandma/Grandpa! Do you know who this is?”.  If the grandparent responds with a name, the scammer assumes the name of that grandchild and uses it to pose as the grandchild.  These scammers typically have several people ready to speak, depending on the grandchild’s name.  These scams typically require an immediate payment to the scammers, and they attempt to keep the victim on the phone as much as possible so they do not verify the information they are being given by the scammer.

MBPD officers may call victims of crime, however, will always identify themselves by the first and last name as well as a phone number to call police dispatch at 717-664-1180 to verify their identity.  MBPD will not call for solicitations for donations, unpaid fines, or any personal identification involving bank accounts, social security numbers, dates of birth, routing numbers, etc. 

Scam characteristics to look out for:  sense of urgency, the offer is too good to be true, unconventional payment methods (iTunes cards, Western Union, gift cards, cryptocurrency, wire transfers), they contact you, you are asked to keep matters secret and not tell anyone.