Public Announcement Fraudulent Phone Calls

NEWS RELEASE PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

Contact: Lieutenant Clint Simpson

For Release March 26, 2015

The Eden Police Department has received at least one complaint of fraudulent use of the Eden Police Department’s phone number, 336-623-9755.  The victim called and stated they received a phone call from the Eden Police Department phone number.  The caller was foreign speaking and attempting to gather personal information from the victim, such as his social security number.  When the victim questioned the legitimacy of the call and the caller, the caller became irate and threatened to arrest the victim and come to his house and do bodily harm.  Obviously, this was not a legitimate call from the Eden Police Department.

In this case, the caller used a tactic called “spoofing”, which allows the caller to input a phone number to show on the victim’s caller ID.  The phone number could be an invalid number or an actual number that is currently being used by a person or a business.  In this case, it appears, the caller used the Eden Police Departments 24 hour number to show on the victim’s caller ID. 

The Eden Police Department will not call you and request your personal information.  If there is ever a question as to the validity of a phone call from the Eden Police Department please call 336-623-9755 and request to speak with an officer in person.