Minneapolis Police Department reports phone scam

Minneapolis Police Department reports phone scam

From UST Public Safety Department

The Minneapolis Police Department has asked that the following information be shared with the St. Thomas community:

Staff at Minneapolis 311 recently reported several incidents of a phone scam. The caller said that he/she was in an accident and requested that the victim call *72 and a phone number. But *72 activates call forwarding, so future calls to the victim will go to the number provided by the scam artist. This allows scam artists and their friends to make collect calls and/or third-party calls that are charged to the victim.

Victims of this kind of scam should call Minneapolis 311 – dial 311 within Minneapolis city limits or (612) 673-3000 – to report theft by swindle.

What can you do? 

  • Check your phone-service provider to see if you signed up for this service, and if you don't need and can cancel it, do so and you will not be vulnerable to this scam. Note:  Although *72 is the sequence most commonly used for call forwarding, some phone service providers may use different sequences.
  • If someone tries this with you, note the phone number that the caller asks you to call or forward to, and report this information to the Minneapolis Police Department.
  • Advise your neighbors of this scam – often these scammers will start dialing numbers at random and the first person to pick up is targeted.  If they picking numbers in sequence, they may try your neighbors next.