A 65-year-old Hingham woman was scammed out of nearly $10,000 after receiving a call she believed was her local police department, authorities said.
The woman received a call displaying Hingham Police Department’s number on her caller ID. The caller, who had a southern accent, said they were a Hingham police officer and told the resident she failed to appear in court on a federal summons, Hingham police said.
The woman was then told “she needed to pay money immediately,” to avoid the police coming to her home, and that she owed $9,500. But, the caller told her, it needed to be paid in Bitcoin, authorities said.
The resident was told she needed to stay on the call until the transaction was completed, according to a release.
The caller stayed on the phone with her as she went to her bank to withdraw money and purchase Bitcoin from a local Stop & Shop Bitcoin ATM, authorities said.
The resident was given account numbers that the caller said belonged to the Hingham police, and once the transaction was over, the caller hung up, police said.
When the scammer called back a second time claiming the woman owed another $9,500 and would be arrested if she didn’t send it over, she knew something was wrong. The woman hung up and drove to the police station.
Hingham police warn people that caller ID’s can be “spoofed,” to display any name or number, and the police will “never call you to warn you about an arrest or threaten you with being arrested.”
The police “will never ask, demand or collect money,” the police department said.
People should hang up on solicited callers and call the number displayed on their caller ID to verify the source, police suggested.
