SHOMRIM ALERT: Realistic Phone Scams Targeting Crown Heights Residents

A realistic phone scam targeting Crown Heights residents has been reported in the Jewish community.

The scam includes sophisticated phone number spoofing that tricks your phone into believing the call is coming from a local NYPD Police Precinct, and showing the Precincts number on the caller ID.

The scammer then convincingly innumerate the “charges” against you, and informs you that you will be arrested if you do not wire money to a “lawyer”.

A Crown Heights resident was recently targeted by the scammer, and just before sending the money, decided to call Crown Heights Shomrim.

Shomrim immediately met up with the individual, explaining to him that government and law enforcement agencies including the Police, FBI and the IRS do not call on the phone to collect debt.

Phone scams such as these have popped up in many forms, including scammers posing as kidnappers, the IRS and even fundraising for Charidy campaigns.

Crown Heights Shomrim would like to remind everyone to NEVER wire or electronically send money to an unknown individual for any reason.