Some Torontonians are sounding the alarm on the rise of elaborate phone scams involving callers claiming to be from trusted institutions, and Toronto police are alerting the public, offering tips and tricks to avoid the fraudsters.
One Reddit user detailed a disturbingly realistic call involving the impersonation of a sergeant using a cloned phone number from a real police division, along with a false badge number.
According to the Reddit user, the fraudulent caller knew their full name, and even stated their own.
“I received a call to my personal phone by someone who claimed to be a sergeant of a specific division in the police. This person knew my full name and stated his name. I asked for his badge number which he gave. I immediately looked up the number that (he) called me from and it really was the Toronto Police number for the specific division of the sergeant,” the Reddit user said.
The scam caller claimed to be investigating the user for fraudulent activity. Feeling uneasy, the Reddit user asked for more details about the investigation, noting that the scammer became aggressive and listed an unrecognizable area code.
But the user remained on the line, concerned about the serious nature of the call.
“Usually when I suspect a scam, which I did, I hang up, but the nature of the call felt really serious to me. I asked him a few times what information he was trying to obtain from me, but couldn’t really get a good answer. So truthfully, I’m not sure where this would have gone,” the user added.
After an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve more information from the caller, the user picked up another phone, dialed the number of the real officer on speakerphone, and kept the fraudulent caller on the line.
But before the actual officer answered, the scamming caller hung up.
“To my surprise, the real sergeant answered the phone. He was pretty shocked to hear what happened, asked me to document it in writing to him at his TPS email so he could file a report, which I did. The badge number I was given by the scammer was not his actual badge number,” the Redditor said.
The user says the real sergeant offered advice aimed at stopping future scammers: collect the caller’s information and contact the real institution using their publicly available phone number. “Apparently, scammers are cloning phone numbers these days,” the user added.
As more scam-related phone calls and emails impact the community, Toronto police have issued a public safety alert, stating that the fraudulent calls are being used to obtain personal and financial information.
“The Toronto Police Service is alerting the public to a growing number of fraudulent phone calls and emails involving individuals impersonating Toronto Police officers,” according to a Toronto Police Service news release on May 30.
Police say the scammers will contact people by phone or email, claiming to be a member of the Toronto Police, and provide the investigators name and false badge number.
The fraudsters claim to be investigating fraudulent credit card activity involving the person on the line, and the caller ID appears to be a legitimate phone number from 42 Division, according to police.
“If you receive a phone call or an email from someone claiming to be a police officer, ask for their name and badge number, then hang up and call police directly to verify their identity,” the public safety alert said.
Police are reminding the public to avoid providing personal or banking information over the phone or by email, noting that they will not ask anyone to provide credit or banking cards. “Any such request should be treated as a scam.”
Meanwhile, other Reddit users chimed in to share their experiences with the elaborate fraudsters, including scammers claiming to be well-known banks.
“Today a family member was called for a fraud alert for a Scotia bank account. It came up as Scotia bank fraud prevention. They were prompted to sign into Www.portal.com. It had two factor authentication and was an exact clone of the scotia bank login,” one Reddit user said.
“[a scammer from] RBC did something similar for me. Left a VM, gave me a case number to reference and told me to call the number on my card,” another user added.
“Same with tangerine. They called me, and said that they had to verify some info and to please call back the number on the card and they’d have the file notes with what I needed to provide,” one user said.
While some people are experiencing fraudulent calls from large institutions, some users are warning others about newer phone scams involving dial tones.
“Be aware this can also be a scam. If they don’t hang up the phone and keep the line open, they can simulate noise that sounds like a dial tone and then you dialling. This means you are still on the line with a scammer,” one Reddit user said.
Amid the rise in scam calls, residents are being urged to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to police.
