Scammers are faking the White Rock RCMP's real phone number to pose as officers, so a caller ID that looks official is no longer proof of anything.
Police in White Rock, Canada, say scammers are calling people while making the call look like it comes from the local RCMP detachment. The callers claim to be officers investigating identity theft, and they ask for personal information. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is Canada's national police force.
White Rock RCMP shared the warning in a release after getting reports of the calls. The trick is called spoofing. It means a caller changes the number that shows on your screen so it matches a real one, in this case the police detachment's own number.
Staff Sgt. Rob Dixon, the detachment commander, put it plainly: "Scammers can make it look like they are calling from a legitimate phone number, including a police detachment."
Most people trust a call that shows a familiar number, and even more so when it seems to be the police. The story about identity theft adds pressure. A worried person may want to help fix the problem and hand over details without thinking. Those details could then be used for fraud.
So far, the people who reported the calls did not give out any information, according to police. That is good news for them. The warning is aimed at White Rock residents, but the same trick could be tried by anyone claiming to be police, anywhere.
The alert box above lists the steps. The main idea is simple: do not trust the number on your screen, and check who is calling by using a publicly listed number you look up yourself.
The release does not say how many calls were made, who is behind them, or how long they have been going on. It also does not say whether the callers ask for specific details, such as bank information. Police are asking anyone who thinks they were targeted to report it to their local police.
A number on your caller ID can be faked, so if a call claims to be police, hang up and call back on a number you look up yourself.
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