Full Notification

A community member brought it to the attention of the El Cerrito Police Department that they had received a call from a person purporting to be an officer.  The caller ID on the reporting party's phone indicated it was the El Cerrito Police Department calling.  The caller identified themselves as a member of the Department and stated they were calling about a family member being a victim of ID theft and tried to obtain some personal information.  The astute community member felt that wasn't legitimate and told the caller they were going to call the Department to verify their identity.  The caller said some unkind words and hung up. 

This sort of vishing or telephone scam is not uncommon.  These hoaxters will utilize a spoofing application to present a fake caller ID in order to seem legitimate.  If you receive a telephone call from one of our officers that you did not initiate and don't feel comfortable talking without verification, you can always ask for a case number as a reference, the officer's name/badge number and then call the Department to verify the identify of the officer.  Between 8 am and 5 pm, the number to call is (510) 215-4400 and after 5 pm or on weekends, call Dispatch at (510) 237-3233.        

It is a good practice not to give out your personal or financial data, such as your Social Security number or credit card account number, to callers you don’t know.  Some common themes utilized by scam callers are to pretend to be IRS agents calling to collect a debt, a government official calling to let you know a family member is in jail and needs bail or lawyer fees, offers for free cruises and vacations, a charity calling that needs help after a disaster, just to mention a few.  Another guiding principle to keep in mind is that legitimate organizations don't accept gift cards as a form of payment.      

Here is a link with more information on scams, how to avoid them and where to report them: https://www.usa.gov/scams-and-frauds