Another ‘Support Your Police’ Scam Making The Rounds

Whether it's the Police Support Fund, or Guild or any other alleged support group, area Law Enforcement Officers remind citizens nobody is going to call you and ask for donations.

There are some who may recall 15-20 years ago or more, there were some groups who used to solicit support for LE related charitiable causes. BUT that was long before the internet, cellphones, and digital scams.

Kennewick Police say a number of reports have come in about two men who have been calling area residents, asking if they would contribute $15 to call local police. Fortunately, the majority of the citizens have just hung up on them.

KPD and other agencies remind you they will NOT be calling to raise money for any causes.

Just a few weeks ago, in mid February, Richland Police reported that scammers were spoofing their phone number to threaten citizens into paying fines for 'imaginary' crimes that were not real. Sadly, there are some companies online who sell apps that will allow you copy phone numbers and make it look like law enforcement or other entities are calling people.

Last May, Pasco PD reported someone was spoofing using the number of Pasco Police, and then claiming they were Segeant Dave Allen. It's likely they were phishing (spelling intentional--that's the internet crime spelling) for personal data from people which can be used for financial purposes--ID theft.

 And back in 2018, Benton County Sheriff's had to deal with people making calls to citizens claiming they had to make payments for fines and crimes, or else they would go to jail immediately. Again, no LE will ever call about anything like that.

Not only did such scams not really exist years ago, here's a few other things that have changed over the years.