MELROSE — The Melrose Police Department would like to warn residents of an increasingly common type of scam known as spoofing, in which telephone numbers are impersonated.
On Monday, Jan. 24, a resident of Melrose notified city officials that they received a call from a number that came up in caller ID as Melrose City Hall, even though the call turned out to be about a medical alert system with no affiliation with the City of Melrose.
Additionally, the number the call was placed from — 781-978-4800 — is close to the actual main phone number for Melrose City Hall.
Scams that use impersonated telephone numbers and email addresses are known as spoofing scams, and employ the faked contact information in an effort to make it appear that scammers are from legitimate sources.
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center — which tracks online scams nationwide — spoofing scams victimized about 28,000 people nationwide in 2020, with victims reporting over $215 million in losses as a result.
Even the FBI has recently been spoofed, with some scammers impersonating federal agents in scams.
The FBI says that while phone numbers and email addresses may appear to be from authorities or people you know, the person or persons behind those messages could be anywhere in the world.
“I would like to thank the resident who reported this incident to the city so that we could take action to warn people,” said Chief Lyle….
