Coventry Police Warn Against Social Security Scam

COVENTRY, RI — Police are warning residents to be aware of a social security scam targeting residents in Coventry. On Wednesday, police said the department received a complaint about a fraudulent call that spoofed their number.

Social security scams are common, where the caller pretends to be a government officials, demanding payment in the form of gift cards and other digital forms of payment. In this case, the spoofed number made it appear that the call came from Coventry police, at 401-826-1100. Spoofing is a common practice for scammers, who will often make it seem like the call is coming from nearby.

Anyone who receives a suspected scam call from a "police department" or "government office" is encourage to hang up immediately, look up the official number for the department, and call them back. Credit and bank cards have customer service numbers listed on the back of cards, while official agency phone numbers can easily be found online or in the phone book.