Northwest Territories RCMP have issued a warning for what is being labelled as “Caller ID Spoofing“.
They say a person or company can go online and mask their actual phone number with another number. There are incidents of people receiving calls from banks, credit card companies and even the police.
The RCMP believe this has already started in the North.
There is a list of tips to help limit the risk:
- When in doubt hang up and call the company back. Find the number online, on the back of your bank card, in the phone book and call that number to confirm.
- Banks/Credit Card companies will never ask you to confirm information if they are the ones making the call and if someone does, hang up right away.
- Check for added numbers of the “-“ symbol on the call display. Some spoofing apps are limited in that they can’t include the “–“ symbol (The number should appear as 867-977-1111 but some apps have it appear as 8679771111).
- Report any suspicious phone calls to your local RCMP detachment.
More information on how to learn to recognize and protect yourself from fraud can be found at Canadas Anti-Fraud Centre (www.antifraudcentre.ca and www.cra-arc.gc.ca/scrty/frdprvntn/menu-eng.html)
RCMP are asking anyone with information regarding this investigation, or any other investigation please call 867-977-1111, contact Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 nwtnutips.com, (click on “submit a web tip”) or text: nwtnutips to 274637.
