Fraud/Scam Alert

On September 17th, 2022, the Chico Police Department was alerted to a scam attempt at several residences in Chico. In each case, the suspect called the residents and identified themselves as a representative from the Chico Police Department. The suspect would use different lines of questioning on each of the calls to the respective resident. These questions include inquiring the resident about outstanding warrants and other police-related questioning. There were no monetary requests made by the suspect during the phone calls.

As an important reminder, the Chico Police Department will not call anyone, a person, or a business, soliciting money. If anyone, regardless of how they identify themselves, requests money by telephone, be suspicious. In this case, the suspect was able to disguise their telephone number to have the caller ID reflect a number used by the Chico Police Department. This is commonly referred to as Caller ID Spoofing. This is a common tactic by scammers as an attempt to appear to be legitimate.

If you receive any similar calls and are concerned about their validity, please report the activity to the Chico Police Department at (530) 897-4900, or the law enforcement jurisdiction in which you live.

Location: Chico, CA
Victim: Withheld
Suspect: Unknown

Supervisor: N/A
Watch Commander: Interim Lieutenant Durkin