By the Daily Post staff
Stanford’s police department has received two reports of telephone and internet fraud, one involving suspects who impersonated campus cops.
The incidents happened during daytime hours on Monday and Wednesday.
In one case, several fraudsters called the victim and claimed to be federal law enforcement agents as well as deputies from the Stanford Department of Public Safety, or DPS. The suspects spoofed the DPS phone number to make it appear as though a DPS deputy was the caller and threatened to arrest the victim. The suspects didn’t make any demands.
In the other case, somebody impersonated an Amazon employee attempting to help the victim with questionable charges on the victim’s Amazon account.
The suspect spoke with the victim over the phone and provided a link in an email that the victim clicked on, allowing the suspect to gain remote access to the victim’s computer, DPS said. The suspect proceeded to steal a significant sum of money from the victim by electronic and wire transfers from the victim’s bank account.
DPS is recommending that if people get a text, email or phone call with a request for money or gift cards, be suspicious.
Any time an unsolicited conversation turns into a request to transfer funds, purchase gift cards or provide personal information, it is very likely to be a scam, DPS says. If this happens over the phone, hang up and locate a published number to call the organization or business directly, such as a customer service number, if you want to follow up. If this happens via email, discontinue the conversation and forward the message to [email protected]