Phone scammers pretend to be police, demand money
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SEATTLE -- Imagine getting a phone call from someone claiming to be a police officer saying you're about to go to jail.
That's exactly happened to one local couple, and possibly many more.
The couple knew they'd done nothing wrong, but they said the threat of arrest came across as very real. The call was a quick way to get them off guard, and it almost worked.
Abdullah Ekriem was half asleep when the phone rang Friday morning. He had no idea he was about to be blind sided.
"You're not completely awake and someone's telling you you're going to jail, you're going to jail," he said.
The man on the line said he was a police officer and told Ekriem he was in big trouble.
Ekriem's girlfriend thought the worst.
"We were really scared," said Cat Ferman. "I thought, is he doing something, is he hiding something from me?"
The caller claimed to be officer Andrew McDonald with the Seattle Police Department. He said Ekriem's bank account showed criminal activity, then he confirmed Ekriem's Social Security number and address.
"We hung up the phone. We called the real police, and she said there's no Andrew McDonald working here. (They said) 'You've been a victim of fraud,'" Ferman said.
The real police took a report and told Ekriem to cancel his accounts. That didn't stop the caller from following up with a voice mail threatening Ekriem with a fine and worse.
"Within the next one hour you will be behind a jail. Let me send some officers right now to get you," the caller said.
Caller ID captured a local number, and a quick Internet search shows just how many people have faced these threats.
Ekriem and Ferman hope to be the last.
"We just wanted to get the word out so that nobody else falls for this," Ferman said.
Ekriem didn't give the caller any personal information, but he did confirm some personal details, which police say can be just as dangerous.
That's exactly happened to one local couple, and possibly many more.
The couple knew they'd done nothing wrong, but they said the threat of arrest came across as very real. The call was a quick way to get them off guard, and it almost worked.
Abdullah Ekriem was half asleep when the phone rang Friday morning. He had no idea he was about to be blind sided.
"You're not completely awake and someone's telling you you're going to jail, you're going to jail," he said.
The man on the line said he was a police officer and told Ekriem he was in big trouble.
Ekriem's girlfriend thought the worst.
"We were really scared," said Cat Ferman. "I thought, is he doing something, is he hiding something from me?"
The caller claimed to be officer Andrew McDonald with the Seattle Police Department. He said Ekriem's bank account showed criminal activity, then he confirmed Ekriem's Social Security number and address.
"We hung up the phone. We called the real police, and she said there's no Andrew McDonald working here. (They said) 'You've been a victim of fraud,'" Ferman said.
The real police took a report and told Ekriem to cancel his accounts. That didn't stop the caller from following up with a voice mail threatening Ekriem with a fine and worse.
"Within the next one hour you will be behind a jail. Let me send some officers right now to get you," the caller said.
Caller ID captured a local number, and a quick Internet search shows just how many people have faced these threats.
Ekriem and Ferman hope to be the last.
"We just wanted to get the word out so that nobody else falls for this," Ferman said.
Ekriem didn't give the caller any personal information, but he did confirm some personal details, which police say can be just as dangerous.
My name is Cat, and I'm the girl in this video. I'd like to clear a few things up, because it seems like a bunch of people are labeling us "idiots." And that's probably because, While Joel Moreno did an EXCELLENT job covering this story, he didn't provide some details which are primary reasons this solicitation seemed real. So here is the entire story: The man called in the morning and woke us out of bed. When we answered, the man first identified himself as "Andrew McDonald from the SPD" and called us from a local number. He then said, "We would like to confirm social security number ___ and the address ___.  Please be aware that the FBI is monitoring this phone call as it is being recorded, so please do not hang up or interrupt. Please write down this case number: ____." When we heard the Indian accent, and as soon as he asked us personal questions, we immediately asked for his badge number. He hesitated, and then said "806." That's when we hung up and called the real police. Because my boyfriend isn't a citizen, and because he is from the MIddle East, we first thought...maybe this has to do with this residency status. Maybe this is immigration. I also thought, maybe this is about a speeding ticket, or a parking ticket. It's not nice to say we're stupid when we really didn't "fall" for anything. We wanted to get the word out, though, so that elderly people wouldn't fall for this scam....this kind of stuff happens often. So please...you watched a 2 minute package of what happened. Please don't jump down our throats and act like we're stupid. We did everything YOU would have done. Thanks.
 @Cat Ferman No, I would have hung up immediately and gone back to sleep after giving that Skype scammer an unfiltered piece of my mind. I do find it mildly interesting that your first thought was about the status of your non-citizen, middle east-hailing boyfriend though.
 If you knew what we are currently going through with customs and immigration, you wouldnt find it so amusing.
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 @AgentSTS  @Cat Ferman
AND you probably wouldn't be surprised that it was the first  thought that came to my head @AgentSTS
As much as I despise fraudsters, and wish them all painful ends due to the misery they choose to cause, in this day and age anyone that is utterly stupid enough to fall for something like this deserves to lose anything that they hand over.If it weren't for an abundance of fools then there wouldn't be so many successful scammers now would there?
I once filled out an online application for a car loan on a dealer website. Yes I admit it was stupid but i was only 18 and I later learned that somehow the dealers website was hacked and ever since I have received calls romr several different people with middle eastern accents threatening me that if I don't either give my debit card info or checking info that I will be arrested because of a supposed loan I took but they can not provide me with any info on it. They always claim to be with the FBI, police department or some other type of government agency. Personally it makes me laugh. In my opinion as long as you have common sense none of these scams should work.Â
If people are that gullible I can only feel pity for them.
If the scammer was smarter, they might pretend to be with the police union instead AND perhaps leave a message too.
I don't answer calls if I don't know the phone number. If it's important, leave a message. If you don't, oh well, I'm not calling you back.
The scammers mistake was saying they were spd. If they had claimed to be Bellevue P.D., then the thugery and threats would seem more real, and the victim would be more likely to move faster to wire the money. Any police department who has members that get loaded and threatens families in public to "watch your back if you're ever in bellevue" should be feared.
Come and get me buddy. I'll leave the lights on.
Don't answer any calls where you are unaware who's on the other end.Â
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- You're welcome. Â
What happeded to good ole days of calling a taxi or pizza and sending it the neighbors house..
"he confirmed Ekriem's Social Security number and address"; "Ekriem didn't give the caller any personal information, but he did confirm some personal details" -- if Ekriem didn't give out any info but the caller was able to confirm details, then he had to have already known the info so the victim was obviously at risk before the phone call.
 @katiemcc This happened to my brother and sister-in-law... Apparently, my SIL had opened a store credit account at a certain retailer a few years before and when the company went under (a national discount retailer of home and bath furnishings) the company that took over bankruptcy proceedings SOLD their credit card holders' information to the highest bidder. She had only used the store credit card once, and did not carry a balance ever on the card... They started getting calls with people who knew both of their names, their address, her SSN, where she worked, etc. The calls were ridiculously over-the-top and threatening-- but the fact that they could tell her they knew all this information about her-- that was scary. They tell you all kinds of lies to convince you that there is all this debt racking up in your name and that certain debts are now being considered "felonies" and the such... They had to change their home #, cancel all existing cards for new numbers, all sorts of things. They had a few hours of threatening messages on their voice mail and the police basically said there was little they could do about it. It could happen to anyone whose ever opened accounts anywhere. She works for a public agency and knows very well how important privacy is, but had no idea that her information could be bought out that way to unsavory folks. Now she knows and is hyper vigilant... a good lesson for all!
@light and star I would think selling that kind of info would (or should) be illegal! That's like a credit death sentence for the people whose information was sold.
Just a reminder to everyone out there. If a real law enforcement officer out there calls you on the phone they will ask you to hang up and call the 911 system and ask for non-emergency help then put you through to the department they work for whom then puts you through to the person. This is true for all levels of law enforcement. When I had my ID stolen a few years ago I had conversations with the local cops and the FBI. They both did the something. Frist they called and identified themselves and then asked me to call 911 with instructions as to whom I was to talk to. Any other caller is just pertending and trying to scam you. Only real law enforcement can use the 911 to talk to people. As I said at the start this is just a reminder to all out there..
 @bustedupredneck That's not always true.  I witnessed a robbery last year and had many conversations with officers and detectives, I called them back a couple times on their cell phones, never went through 911.
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 @TheTruncheon are you referring to the victim because of his name? It sounds like you are, since no one knows who the caller is. And you sound like you do every day : an angry old butt hurt guy with nothing good to say.
 @two loons Oh, and I see now that my original comment was deleted. Well, let me rephrase that. "The scamming criminal filth who called Mr. Ekriem and whose threatening, recorded, voice is featured in the video sounds like a foreigner who needs to be deported". How's that? Is that better? All clear now? Man, I swear, this thin-skinned P.C. patrol cr__ppola is getting real old.Â
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Would you still have insinuated and assumed I meant the victim if his name had been "Smith", and actually gone to the trouble of erroneously deleting my post? Sounds like someone needs to wake up, take off their reality-distortion goggles, and smell their cognitive dissonance.
 @two loons That wasn't very nice to say. Maybe I should have been clearer in my original comment and specifically referred to the scamming filth caller as the "He", because that's what I meant; but it seems that only an angry old brain hurt chip-on-the-shoulder race-baiting Anti-American xenophile would immediately insinuate that I meant the victim from my comment.Â
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Unlike you, I listened to the accent and the grammar of the caller on the video. He's obviously a foreigner. Probably from Eastern Europe. He's also obviously a criminal, and he, like so many other foreigners infiltrated here, may very well be here illegally as well... and should be immediately deported like all the other illegal alien invaders.
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You are right about this: I don't have anything "good" to say about the illegal aliens in this country, their Quisling supporters, or the insane upside-down "policies" that allow and encourage them to be here. You know why? Because it's NOT "GOOD" THEY ARE HERE!
I hate the scam calls, I get many on my cell phone (to the point where I don't answer strange calls anymore) - hope the scammer gets caught soon.
 @PersianTrainer I've been getting calls from the same number in Colorado for several days. They never leave a message and doing a Google shows this number as a "boiler room" operation. I just had Verizon block all calls from this number. Unfortunately the block only lasts for 90 days but it can be renewed.
I would think enough of us would be smart to realize if the police were gonna come arrest you, they wouldn't give you a heads up. What would be the point for the police to call you ahead of time if they would be giving a suspect a perfect opportunity to get away? Even the police wouldn't be that stupid. That scam should've been obvious!
Fortunately, there are a lot of honest, law-abiding citizens out there who probably would become a little worried if they got a call like that...
It is sad that people are truly this stupid in today's day and age. Police are not just going to CALL YOU UP and demand money, DUH!!
 @slappywag If I'm bored and have some time to kill I like messing with them to the point I get them to hang up.
These thugs are no better than the ones one the street.