Tyler Police: “That’s Not Us Calling You, Its A Scam”

You gotta be careful these days when it comes to answering phone calls from strange numbers. We all get at least one phone call a day from a strange number from either telemarketers or scammers for all types of crap from "This is Visa/Mastercard card services" (even though you don't have NEITHER one of their cards) or even worse the dreaded "Your Car Warranty Is About To Run Out" even though you drive a used pickup from the 90's.

But what happens when you get a call from a number you may recognize but its asking you for all kinds of personal information?

That's what the Tyler Police Department are warning residents about as they announced on their Facebook page that they have been receiving calls from residents saying that someone is calling them from the Tyler PD's non-emergency phone number 903-531-1000, posing as Tyler Police detectives, asking folks for their personal financial information.

Don't, I REPEAT, DO NOT give them this information because it is a SCAM!

The scammers are "spoofing" the Tyler PD's primary dispatch non-emergency number. Spoofing is the process of changing the Caller ID to any number other than the actual calling number. Caller ID spoofing happens when a caller knowingly falsifies the info transmitted to disguise the number they're calling from.

Tyler PD are asking residents to NOT give the caller their financial information and to contact them IMMEDIATELY if you receive a call from 903-531-1000 by using that same number to contact them directly.