Five Things a Real Cop Will Never Ask You to Do
Any formal interaction with the police may cause concern. Whether it’s a traffic stop on the highway or an investigation, it’s natural to feel a rush of adrenaline, and if the interaction involves any hint of illegal activity on your part, it’s easy to panic. After all, law enforcement officers have the power to arrest and detain you, and even if you know you’re innocent, it can be incredibly disruptive and frightening .
Fraudsters, of course, know this and often use it to their advantage. They also take advantage of law enforcement’s inexperience since most of us don’t interact with police very often. This can make it difficult to determine that something is wrong in your interactions with law enforcement (especially since it is very easy to spoof the phone number of your local police station and use the names of real officers). Combined with stress and anxiety, this helps convince you to do things you would never normally consider wise. But there are certain things that real police officers will never ask you or ask you to do. If someone posing as a police officer tells you to do any of the following five things, you are almost certainly being scammed.
Call about warrants or bail
There are many reasons law enforcement may contact you by phone, but they will never call you about outstanding warrants or threats of arrest. As New York State Trooper Jennifer Giron told Spectrum News earlier this year, police will “never call or email” about warrants. If law enforcement has a warrant for your arrest, they will come and arrest you rather than call you to talk about it.
They will also never call you asking for bail for anyone. If a loved one is arrested somewhere and needs you to post bail, they will be given the opportunity to contact you directly. No real police officer will call you and make incredible arrangements to pay your bail. The moment the “cop” on the phone mentions a warrant or bail payment, hang up. You can then check to see if there is a real warrant or if someone needs your help on their own, but chances are you won’t find anything.
Demand payment
Real police will also never try to convince you to pay them directly for anything, especially over the phone. A common scam is where fake cops call you and tell you that there is a warrant out for your arrest – usually for something that sounds almost legal but you didn’t, like skipping jury duty or some another phenomenon in court. They then tell you that you can either be immediately arrested, hire a lawyer and receive a stiff sentence, or pay immediately to have the warrant magically disappear.
Real police officers will never ask you to pay on the spot or over the phone, period. If you owe a fine, you will be able to pay it through official channels, and you will never have to do it under time pressure.
Something else the cops never do? Demand that you pay any kind of fine through gift cards, cryptocurrency, or through an app like Zelle . No matter how official they sound, how much personal information they may have, or how believable your alleged crime is, the moment they mention such an alternative payment channel, you know it’s a scam.
Request financial details
Of course, police investigating a crime can check someone’s finances. But real cops will never call you and ask you to disclose personal financial information such as account numbers, passwords, or your Social Security number. Real police officers will get this information during the course of their investigation, and they won’t have to contact you to do it. As FBI agent Kevin Vorndran told WTOP News , “No law enforcement official will contact you by telephone and ask you to provide your Social Security number.”
If they do this, it’s because they want to scrape your accounts and steal your identity because they are not real cops.
Demand that you meet them
Another way to know you’re dealing with a law enforcement scammer is if they insist that you meet them anywhere other than the police station, especially if the purpose of the meeting is to pay them some kind of fine, bail, or fine. They also won’t come to your house to ask for money. If the police need to speak to you as part of a legitimate investigation, they will come to you or arrange for you to meet at the station to speak with them.
Instruct you to keep the call confidential
One of the hallmarks of any scam is isolation: the scammer doesn’t want you to talk to anyone about what’s going on because an objective third party might point out how crazy the whole scheme is. When someone impersonates a law enforcement officer, they will often warn you not to involve anyone else in the case or talk about what is going on. They usually justify it by saying that it is an “ongoing investigation” and your cooperation will be considered insufficient if you try to verify what you are told or that the information is confidential. This psychological pressure is necessary to keep you inside the bubble of false reality that they spin for you so that you never stop wondering why the FBI or local police department wants you to cancel the warrant by paying them with gift cards.
If you are ever contacted by someone claiming to be a police officer, get their information (name, badge number, case details) and hang up. Then call the police station (or another non-local police office) directly using the number you obtained yourself. If this is a real investigation, you should have no problem getting back in touch with the police officer or anyone else who can help.