SCAM Attempt

On August 6th, 2021, the Chico Police Department was alerted to a scam attempt at a local business in Chico. The suspect called the business identifying themselves as a representative from the Chico Police Department. The suspect said the manager of the business was in custody and the employee of the business needed to send them money. Fortunately, the employee did not complete the transaction and no loss was incurred.

Just as an important reminder, the Chico Police Department will not call anyone, person or 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 show as the Chico Police Department (often referred to as Caller ID Spoofing of ghosting). 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: P. Durfee 42
Watch Commander: T. Tupper L7