Scammers are exploiting a real “cyber incident” at a Riverhead New York high school to send out robocalls that claim to be coming from the local police department, RiverheadLOCAL reports.
“Community members should be on the alert for scammers looking to take advantage of the school district’s situation, Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller said in a phone interview this afternoon after the police department issued a press release warning about a robocall in which someone claiming to be a Riverhead Police sergeant said he was calling about a data breach at Riverhead High School,” RiverheadLOCAL said. “That call did not come from the Riverhead Police Department or any affiliated agencies, according to the police press release.”
The scammers are likely spoofing the phone number to make the call appear legitimate.
“Police provided the phone number and caller ID information connected with the robocall,” RiverheadLOCAL said. “A woman who answered a call to that number today said she had not made any calls of that nature and had not heard anything about it prior to RiverheadLOCAL’s inquiry. She said she had not been contacted by the Riverhead Police Department about the matter. She also said she does not live in Riverhead and does not have children in the district. The department is not making robocalls to the community about the situation in the school district, Hegermiller said this afternoon. Anyone who receives any calls to that effect should hang up and report the call to police.”
Hegermiller added that the department is still attempting to determine who is actually behind the calls.
“We are still working on it and trying to figure out who the caller actually is and how the number is being used,” Hegermiller said.
New-school security awareness training can enable your employees to recognize the hallmarks of social engineering attacks so they can avoid falling for these types of scams.
RiverheadLOCAL has the story.
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