Thursday, March 28, 2024

Poquoson Police Phone Number Used in Scam

Poquoson Police Department wants the public to be aware of a phone scam that uses a phone number belonging to the department. (Courtesy of Poquoson Police Department)

POQUOSON — The Poquoson Police Department (PPD) wants residents to be aware of a phone scam that uses a PPD phone number to get personal information.

According to a post on the PPD Facebook page, on Wednesday, Nov. 17, a business in Poquoson received a call on from a phone number that was identified as coming from the department. The caller identified themselves as from the Poquoson Police and asked the employee for their personal phone number, claiming that it was to discuss some alleged illegal activity at the business. Luckily, the employee recognized that the call was a scam and hung up.

In an interview with WYDaily, PPD Chief Stephen Keatts said that residents need to be aware of scams like this, which are also known as “call spoofing”. This is when a scammer manipulates the caller ID so that the number of the incoming call appears to come from a local or well-known number.

“Poquoson Police will not call and ask you for personal information over the phone,” Keatts said. “If you get a call from us and you are at all suspicious, hang up and call our number back.”

If you receive a call like this, please disconnect and then contact the PPD at (757) 868-3501.

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