Fremont Police Warn Of Scammers Impersonating Officers

FREMONT, CA — The Fremont Police Department is warning community members of scammers impersonating officers on the phone to solicit money.

Police say scammers are calling people pretending to be officers on the non-emergency line, and that the Caller ID will even sometimes say the department's name.

"Our officers will never call from the non-emergency line to request for information or to solicit money," the Fremont Police Department said. "If you receive such a call, hang up!"

This type of scam is called spoofing, and callers may even use the names of real department personnel, authorities said. In this scam, they may claim a community member missed a subpoena, failed to pay a fine for a ticket, didn't pay their taxes or have other fees they need to pay to avoid being arrested or sued, authorities said.

A Berkeley woman told Patch that she was the victim of this type of scam last month. The scammers threatened her with jail and sent her legal documents claiming she was under a gag order and could not call anyone else until she paid a fine.

Ultimately, the scammers took $69,000 from her.

"If you receive a call like this, it's a scam," police said. "Do not provide cash payment or any money transfers to anyone claiming to be from the Police Department, the City, the County, the Courts, or some type of government official."