WATSONVILLE—Watsonville Police Department is warning residents about a scam in which a caller pretends to be a police officer and asks for a callback to discuss “confidential legal matters.”
The caller reportedly falsely claimed to be WPD Sgt. Michael Ridgway.
The person who received the call suspected it was fake and called Santa Cruz County Regional 911 center, WPD said in an email post.
Investigators do not know who the caller is, and have no way of tracing the call because these types of scams are done over the internet. Other local police departments in the area have received similar reports in the past few months.
WPD suggests the following to help avoid these scams:
• Never give or confirm personal or financial information to callers you don’t know.
• If you’re not expecting a call from the police department, you should be suspicious.
• At any time, you can call the WPD dispatch center at 471-1151 to verify the identity of any of its police officers.
• Don’t believe callers who say you’ll be arrested, fined, or deported if you don’t pay taxes or some other debt right away.
