A Collinsville resident has fallen victim to a phone scam, giving the callers her debit card number and paying them $315.
Rex Leath, assistant chief for the Collinsville Police Department, said the scammers were using a device that causes caller identification to display local numbers. The callers told the victim that they were from the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office and would swear out warrants for the person’s arrest unless she paid.
Leath said after the woman made the initial payment, the callers upped their demands to $1,000 and that’s when the victim turned to police.
“We have had several people talk to us about (scam calls),” he said, “but no one had filed an actual report until now. The calls show up as being from local numbers.”
Leath said some of the calls have appeared to have been coming from his department’s fax number and others were from the district attorney’s fax number. He recounted that he had received a call this week that appeared to be local, but actually was from Miami, Fla. He said the caller claimed to be soliciting donations for wounded veterans. Leath said he told the caller he didn’t do business like that over the phone. “I had to hang up on him, he was so persistent,” he said.
Leath advised people to not to give anyone credit or debit card information over the phone. The district attorney’s office would not demand money from anyone over the phone. “If anyone makes demands like that, I’d tell them to come ahead with their warrants, I’ll be waiting on them,” he said.