MARION – The Marion Police Department handled two individual scam calls Monday. According to the Marion Police Department’s Facebook page, both of the calls were from a “spoofed” phone number showing a phone exchange out of Mexico (664).
In both instances, the scam caller told the victim over the phone that they had a family member in distress and that they needed personal identifying information. In one instance, the scammer claimed that family members had been kidnapped and were being held at gunpoint. In the other incident, the scammer claimed to be a medic and that the victim’s daughter was involved in a crash and that they needed her personal information (such as date of birth and social security number).
It is important to remember that there are numerous tactics that scam artists will use. In one of these incidents, the scammer actually had the name of the victim’s daughter which was likely obtained through a quick search of Facebook. When a victim is faced with an alleged emergency involving family, it can often be easy to fall for these frightening and high-pressure tactics. Please take the time to verify the information if possible from another source. Giving personal information over the phone is not a condition of receiving medical treatment or response for law enforcement in an emergency.