Just hang up: Clovis police warn residents about ‘spoofing’ telephone scam

Clovis police issued a “scam alert” Monday for residents to be on guard for phone calls that seem to be coming from the city, but really aren’t.

“These calls are either trying to sell the resident something, or advise the resident that they have a warrant or overdue bill and must pay over the phone immediately,” the police department said on its Facebook page.

The callers are using a technique called “spoofing,” police said.

“These criminals use a technique called ‘spoofing’ which can make their real phone number look like it’s calling from a different phone number, and most of the time they are actually out of the state, or even the country,” police said.

The city does not call and ask for personal or payment information over the phone, police said. Residents paying a city bill by phone must use a service called “Paymentus.”

“As always, we strongly recommend that you simply ignore phone calls and emails from numbers and addresses that you do not recognize,” the city said.

This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Just hang up: Clovis police warn residents about ‘spoofing’ telephone scam."