HONOLULU (KHON2) — Law enforcement officials say there is a rise in caller ID spoofing with criminals posing as trusted sources to steal money and personal information.
Honolulu police are warning residents about a rise in phone scams using caller ID spoofing, where criminals fake phone numbers to trick victims into thinking they are legit. Scammers manipulate the caller ID to make it look like the call is coming from a legitimate source.
“Local police department, courts, could even be like a local branch of the IRS,” said Lt. Christian Trent with HPD’s Criminal Investigation Division Cyber Crimes Unit. “Also, banks, credit unions, those are very common.”
That is what happened to Hawaii Kai resident Victoria LeChantier, who received a call from a person claiming to be from the Sheriff’s Office who said she had an arrest warrant for missing jury duty. LeChantier knew it was not legit, even though the person sounded official.
“‘What? I have a warrant’. And so they said, ‘Yes. missed your jury duty.’ And then I said, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ I was just kind of playing along with it,” she said.
The scammers told LeChantier to buy thousands of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin in order to clear two warrants.
“It’s $1,500 per case, so they were going to get $3,000 if it was successful,” she said.
Other versions of the scam involve wire transfers or money orders, and the person on the call might even have some personal info.
“They had my date of birth, and they had my phone number and the area that I lived in,” LeChantier said. “That was creepy, yeah.”
HPD’s Cyber Crime Detail said not to trust the phone number, even if it looks familiar or official.
“Pay attention to the behavior of the person that you’re talking to, not necessarily the number that shows up on caller ID,” Lt. Trent said. “If anything on the call seems suspicious or hinky, like the caller ID says, it’s such and such a bank. You can always tell them, Is it okay if I call you back and then use a verified number that you know belongs to that institution?”
Honolulu police said these kinds of spoofed scam calls can be reported directly to them or to a federal agency like the Internet Crime Complaint Center.