‘Credibility’ used in phoney Halifax police phone scam: tech expert

Cellphone

Halifax Regional Police have issued a warning about a scam that uses their phone number making the rounds.

It’s known as spoofing, where fraudsters will alter a phone number appearing on a potential victim’s call display, so it appears to be from a legitimate organization like a police force.

In an email Tuesday, Halifax police said they have received several reports of people taking phone calls from the department’s non-emergency reporting/dispatch phone number: 902-490-5020.

The number appears on the potential victim’s call display and the caller claims to be from the Halifax Regional Police. They warn that the person’s personal information has been compromised.

Authorities say this is part of an international scam.

Technology expert Scott Beck told CTV News Atlantic that scammers are always trying to “leverage credibility” in pursuit of victims.

“The risk to the scammer is minimal, especially if they are based overseas,” said Beck, the CEO of BeckTek in Riverview, N.B.

In addition to potentially falling for it, Beck said another issue with this particular scam is that it ties up police resources when people return missed calls, trying to verify if the call was real, or making a complaint.

“Typically, scammers are caught if they make rookie mistakes online or upset an entity with deep enough pockets to fund the investigations themselves – think Microsoft, Amazon, Apple etc.,” he added.

But, if you’re not a big business, don’t count on a resolution.

“Who is going to pay for the investigation in the foreign country not likely to extradite?” Beck noted.

In this latest case, police said several of the spoofing reports were from other areas of Canada.

Halifax Regional Police spokesperson Const. Martin Cromwell said, if someone receives a call like this, they should not provide or confirm any personal or financial information and hang up the phone.

“Do not give personal information to anyone by phone, email or in person unless you are certain of their identity and the legitimacy of the organization they represent,” Cromwell said in a news release.

Variations on spoofing

Caller ID

Fraudsters have the ability to manipulate the phone number appearing on call display either by call or text message.

Fraudsters can display legitimate phone numbers for law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, government agencies or service providers.

Email

Similar to caller ID spoofing, fraudsters can manipulate the sender’s email address to make them believe the email they’re receiving is from a legitimate source.

Website spoofing

Fraudsters will create fraudulent websites that look legitimate. The fake websites can pretend to be a financial institution, company offering employment, investment company or government agency.

In many cases, fraudsters will use a similar domain/website URL to the legitimate company or organization with a minor spelling difference.

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