Three Emporia residents have recently fallen victim to phone scams where callers impersonate members of the Emporia Police Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt initially started with a virus alert popping up on people\u2019s computers, prompting them to call a number,\u201d explained Captain Ray Mattas of the Emporia Police Department. \u201cWhen they did, the call ended abruptly. Then, the scammers called back, spoofing the police department\u2019s phone number and claiming to be law enforcement, telling victims they had warrants for their arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Believing they were speaking with actual police officers, the victims subsequently handed over an unknown amount of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mattas warned that these scams often result in significant financial loss, with victims rarely recovering their money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur banks are aware of these scams and try to dissuade people from giving up their money,\u201d Mattas said. \u201cWhile ultimately it\u2019s their decision, we advise against it if something feels off. Call the police, take advice from bankers, and consult with friends or family. It\u2019s okay to ask more questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of these scams are based internationally, which makes them harder to trace, Mattas noted. \u201cOften, scammers hire couriers to pick up money directly, sometimes unknowingly involved, making it difficult to track the funds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Emporia Police Department emphasized that police will never call asking for money over the phone. If you receive such a call, it is likely a scam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three Emporia residents have recently fallen victim to phone scams where callers impersonate members of the Emporia Police Department. \u201cIt initially started with a virus alert popping up on people\u2019s computers, prompting them to call a number,\u201d explained Captain Ray Mattas of the Emporia Police Department. \u201cWhen they did, the call ended abruptly. Then, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-3952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-phone-scam","tag-scam-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3954,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952\/revisions\/3954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}