Salem Police Warn of New Phone Scam (AUDIO)

NEVER give out and/or verify personal information to anybody over the phone or on the internet without knowing exactly who they are and why the information is needed.

Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - The Salem Police Department would like to warn the public of a new scam that has recently been reported in our local area involving alleged unpaid loans.

The scam usually starts with the victims receiving calls on their cellular phones, with the caller ID showing the number 971-240-4855. If the victims do not answer, a message is left for them to call 415-200-0274. The victims have then received phone calls at their business numbers from a male with an English/Middle Eastern accent identifying himself as Peter Richmond.

This person represents himself to be with the "Federal Legislation For Unsecured Loans" and demands that the victim confirm their personal information and then demands money for an unpaid loan. The suspect is loud and intimidating on the phone when he is speaking with the victims, and in at least one case has told the victim that there is a judgment out against him and threatening jail time if the victim does not pay the money owed.

The suspect has also attempted to pass himself off as being a loan business. He has also often had the victim's personal information such as the name of the victim's bank and account numbers. It is unknown at this time how the suspect obtained this personal information.

Some other telephone numbers that have been affiliated with this scam are 415-200-0273, 415-200-0272 and 940-817-1205. These phone numbers appear to be prepaid cellular phones that are routed from overseas.

The Salem Police Department would like to remind the public to NEVER give out and/or verify personal information to anybody over the phone or on the internet unless you can absolutely verify to whom you are speaking and why the information is needed. Banking institutions and government agencies who have a need to know that information will most certainly already have it and will have no need to have you verify it for them again. If you are asked to go to a particular website and/or call a number to verify or validate the information you are receiving, never just call the number provided. Always verify that the phone number to the business is legitimate by using other means such as telephone directories. Scam artists often set up bogus phone banks and have people answering those phones imitating a legitimate business.

Scam artists also set up bogus websites that look almost identical to authentic websites, even using company logos and symbols. Do not click on links to these websites that come with the suspect message. Go onto the internet yourself and research the company and verify the correct website for that company before conducting any further business.

If you receive a call and are not sure if it is legitimate or not, tell the person that you need to verify the validity of call, then look up the number for the company independently and check with them directly. In these cases, the caller had the personal information of the victims. Do not think that just because the caller already has some information that it is a valid call or inquiry. Again, if a financial institution or government agency already has that much information, there will be no need for them to verify that information again.