Scam Alert
We want to make you aware of a phone scam that involved a suspect pretending to be an officer from the Palo Alto Police Department.
On Tuesday, October 30, a man in his early sixties reported that he received a call on his mobile phone from someone claiming to work for the "immigration office." The caller told the man he needed a new passport, driver's license, and social security card because he was the victim of identity theft. The man then received a call from someone who claimed to be a Palo Alto Police Officer named "Jim Hopper." "Hopper" told the man he should cooperate with immigration. The man then received a third phone call from someone claiming to be another "immigration worker" who told the victim he needed to load money onto gift cards to pay for new identification cards. In total, the victim was scammed out of $10,000.00.
Our department does not have an officer by the name of "Jim Hopper." Officers are continuing to investigate this matter. It is an isolated incident, but we want to make the public aware so they do not fall victim to this scam. Palo Alto Police will never solicit payment in any form for any reason over the phone. When the victim received the phone call from the person impersonating the officer, it came from a Palo Alto Police phone number. However, the phone number was spoofed which means the suspect used commercially available software freely available on the internet to disguise the true number from which he was calling.
Gift card scams over the phone are increasingly common all across the United States. It’s important to remember that gift cards are not a legitimate form of payment for any official business, so immediately suspect anyone of demanding gift cards over the phone for payment of an “official” debt of fraud and notify police.
For more information about our relationship with the federal government about immigration matters, see this page on our website.” And link to https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=3892
