Sedona Police Department Detective Justin White gave a presentation on internet and identity safety at the Sedona Public Library on Thursday, Sept. 25.
“If anybody ever asked you to pay with a gift card in any way shape or form, it’s fraud,” White said. “There’s no legitimate company out there that will ever actually say ‘Go to [a store] and say, get gift cards to pay us.’ Right off that bat that’s 100% fraud.”
White said there are 40 types of fraud to which residents are vulnerable, including advance fee frauds and romance scams.
“It’s almost like an average of all of them,” White said about the most common types of fraud in his recent experience. “Probably more of the warrant scams are the ones I think I’ve personally seen … A lot of them may not necessarily go on my desk. Usually, it’s not until somebody pays something before I see it.”
Earlier this year, scammers used real SPD officer names to attempt to extort payments, and the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office also reported similar incidents, in which scammers demanded money or gift cards under false pretenses. White said that he was targeted in May by a similar impersonator scam by someone attempting to pass themselves off as a Coconino County Sheriff’s Office sergeant.
YCSO volunteer fraud investigator Ron Norfleet subsequently said that he estimated he has received 25 to 30 reports of such frauds over the last 10 weeks, but that no residents have paid out any money as a result of these attempts.
“I do not know anybody ever gave him a warrant for not showing up for jury, that doesn’t mean don’t go,” White said. “Even more so, will never ever call you and tell you you have a warrant. I don’t care what that warrant’s for … if you have a warrant for your arrest, you’ve already shown to me that you’re trying to get away from something.” He pointed out that threatening someone with a warrant with arrest within a time limit would potentially give them a head start.
“Stay calm and trust your instincts; those are the big things,” White said. “Almost every fraud that comes across my desk, almost everybody says, ‘Something didn’t feel right. I can’t believe I fell for this,’ or the other thing they’ll say is ‘I was afraid that … ’ The way these bad guys will get you is by playing on your fears, playing on your emotions. … once you get hyped up on you aren’t thinking straight. That’s what we’re trying to get you to do is not think straight.”
“According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, 14,190 people reported being victims of government impersonation scams in 2023, with losses totaling more than $394 million dollars,” the FBI’s Portland, Ore., office wrote in a June press release about scammers impersonating FBI agents.
“The scammers typically target older adults.” White said that public fear of or respect for law enforcement facilitates the fake officer scams and that fraudsters can exploit other fears, such as by employing threats of utility disconnection, with some pretending to be from Arizona Public Service and demanding payment in gift cards or cryptocurrency to prevent a disconnection.
“Hang up and call the utility company yourself,” the Federal Trade Commission consumer stated in an alert. “Call the company using the number on your bill or the utility company’s website even if the person who contacted you left a callback number. Oftentimes, those call-back numbers are fake. If the message came by text, don’t respond and do the same. If your bill says you owe anything, pay it as you normally would, not as the caller says … Never wire money or pay with a reloadable card, gift card or cryptocurrency to anyone who demands it. Only scammers will require one of those kinds of payment. Your utility company won’t ask you to pay that way.”
“The way that these guys are playing on your emotions, your fears, and so the biggest thing is don’t be embarrassed, and please reach out for help if something does happen,” White subsequently said.
White advised attendees to avoid panic, delete or ignore scam attempts, report phishing attempts to their email provider, install an antivirus program, ignore popup ads, verify claims from potential scammers with outside sources and change their passwords frequently.
Scam reports can be filed with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov or the YCSO Fraud Department at (928) 771-3299.
