New twist on $ scam sends armed officers to victim [SWAT-ting]

http://www.wcyb.com/news/New-twist-on-scam-sends-armed-officers-to-victim/33149584 ^ | Cassandra Sweetman

[Timber Rattler]

Police are warning about an old scam with a new a very dangerous twist and Wednesday night, a Church Hill woman became a victim.

Nicole Smith got a call that said she owed almost $1,000 to the IRS. When she refused to pay the scammers, they called the police on her.

(snip)

Smith then called her ex-husband to tell him what happened, but the ordeal wasn't over. The same person called back telling her to look out her window.

"There were four police cars outside my window! I was panicked because I couldn't believe, how did he get four police cars to my house? Four!"

Church Hill Police Chief Mark Johnson said the scammers called 911 pretending to be Smith. The scammers used software that made it look like her house phone called the police, and a female voice told police there were men invading her house with AK-47s.

[super7man]

Good advice. I take it one step further. If you call and you are not in my phone directory, I don’t answer. Ever.

You can leave a message, but 99% of the time I’m not calling you back.

Oh, and if you send me an e-mail and I don’t know you. I delete it. If you send me an e-mail and I DO know you and the subject does not make sense, I delete it. Simple.

[-YYZ-]

I think it’s time the phone companies did something about this spoofing of phone numbers. Time to stop holding us users of technology responsible for the failings of the technology providers. In this case I include the police in the category of users of this technology - they just depend on their caller ID system being accurate.