Hingham Teen Falls for $2,000 Scam

From the Hingham Police Department:

19 year old resident fell victim to a phone scam where the caller ID listed as 9-1-1. She purchased $2,000 worth of iTunes gift cards. Fortunately, the transaction was able to be cancelled by her credit card company.

On Monday, June 13, 2016 the 19 year old, who is a college student, received several calls on her cell phone. The caller ID listed as "911". The caller spoke with a foreign accent and he was difficult to fully understand.

The resident believed the caller said he was the police and that she owed money to her college. The caller told her to purchase four $500 iTunes gift cards and call back a New York phone number with the iTunes card numbers.

The student went to CVS and purchased $2,000 worth of iTunes gift cards using a credit card. She then called back the number the caller provided and gave one of the $500 gift card numbers. She stopped and became more suspicious.

She called her father who immediately recognized it as a scam. He told her to hang up. He immediately called his credit card company. They were able to cancel the transaction.

The scammers in this case spoofed the caller ID to read "911". We've seen this done by scammers who change the caller ID to read "IRS" or "Washington DC" in IRS Scam attempts. This is the first time we've seen the caller ID changed to read "911". Scammers can of course change it display any information to make it fit the scam type.

Please be aware that when "911" a dispatch center calls you back, it will not read "911". It will be a full ten digit phone number with a local area code for the line they are using.