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In an alert issued Tuesday, April 9, the agency said fraudsters employ a variety of tactics to con their victims, including demanding payment for a missed court date, jury duty, or other legal matter.
The phony cops have also been known to claim there is a warrant for the victim’s arrest and threaten to apprehend them unless a fine is paid.
In some cases, scammers have directed the victim to buy a prepaid money transfer card and give them the card number.
“They might say you’ll be arrested, fined, or deported if you don’t pay taxes or some other debt right away. The goal is to scare you into paying,” the agency said. “But real law enforcement agencies will not call and threaten you.”
New York State Police offered the following tips to avoid falling victim to scammers:
- Refuse to give the scammer any information
- Do not send any payments
- Hang up and do not trust that caller ID shows their real identity
- Record their number and save any voicemails
- Find the real number and call the law enforcement agency the scammer claimed to represent
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