Duluth Police Warn Of Scammers “Spoofing” Their Phone Lines
If you get a harassing phone call that says it's coming from the Duluth Police Department, you are likely a victim of someone "spoofing" one of their lines.
Duluth Police issued the warning Monday evening on their Facebook page:
The Duluth Police Department has been notified that a few area citizens have been receiving harassing phone calls from one of the department’s phone lines. We believe someone is “spoofing” our phone line. Spoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. Scammers often use neighbor spoofing so it appears that an incoming call is from a local number, or spoof a number from a company or government agency that you may already know and trust. If you receive a phone call, and feel like you’re speaking to someone other than a police officer or department employee, it is always acceptable to let the person know you are going to hang up and will call them back. Since “spoofers” cannot receive incoming calls to the “spoofed” number, your phone call will go to the police department. If you feel you are being scammed please report it to 911.
Scammers can be very bold and aggressive, so by all means follow the advice from the Duluth Police Department. Hang up and call the number back, which should reveal it to be a "spoofed" number and then report it to the authorities.