Police Warn Of Scammer Impersonating Dedham Officer

DEDHAM, MA — Police warned residents to be cautious of phone scams after receiving several reports over the weekend, including one from a scammer impersonating a Dedham police officer.

The caller not only pretended to be an officer, but the call to the victim came up on caller identification as coming from the station, police said. Other callers told police they received calls from scammers, who said they were with the Social Security Administration. Police warned residents to watch out for scammers using phone spoofing techniques.

"Scammers can spoof telephone numbers to make it look like the call is legit," police said in a statement. "It can show the police department’s telephone number or even the actual Social Security Administration number. If you have any question on the legitimacy of the call, hang up and call the agency back."

Other red flags police said to watch out for include callers asking residents to purchase gift cards, wire money, or deposit money in a Bitcoin account. Dedham police also offered the following information to help residents determine if a call is a scam or not:

1. Your Social Security number is not about to be suspended. You don’t have to verify your number to anyone who calls out of the blue. And your bank accounts are not about to be seized.
2. Social Security will never call to threaten your benefits or tell you to wire money, send cash, or put money on gift cards. Anyone who tells you to do those things is a scammer. Every time.
3. The real Social Security number is 1-800-772-1213, but scammers are putting that number in the caller ID. If you’re worried about what the caller says, hang up and call 1-800-772-1213 to speak to the real Social Security Administration. Even if the wait time is long, confirm with the real Social Security Adminstration before responding to one of these calls.
4. Never give any part of your Social Security number to anyone who contacts you. Or your bank account or credit card number.

More helpful information can be found at the Federal Trade Commission's website.

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