The Santa Clara Police Department received a report of a scammer attempting to impersonate City of Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor.
This scam may follow a similar formula: The victim receives a call about having won a choice of $10,000 a week for life or a lump sum single payment in the amount of $18.5 million in a Publishers Clearing House (PCH) sweepstakes drawing. The caller requests the “winner” pay the taxes prior to delivery of the prize money. This is a scam!
In many scams, a caller tricks caller-ID into saying the call is coming from a reliable location, and then impersonate an individual representing the “calling location.”
If you receive such a call, do not provide any personal identifying or bank information. Instead, hang up immediately! If you have been a victim of this or any other scam, file an online report (www.scpd.org) with the Santa Clara Police Department or call the Police Building at (408) 615-4700. For more information on current, common scams, visit www.fraud.org
