The Naperville Police Department continues to receive a significant number of complaints from residents who have been the victims of phone and email scams. The subjects placing these calls or send emails may claim to represent various government agencies, Pay Day Loans or Dish Network and assert that the victims owe back taxes or have some other non-existent financial obligation. Many of these calls threaten the victim with arrest, large fines, and in some instances, revocation of immigration status and deportation if the victim does not provide either a credit card number or other banking information to immediately settle the debt.
In recent weeks, the City has also been made aware of customers receiving utility account “past due” phone calls from a phone number in area code 818. These calls are not from the City. Calls from the City regarding utility accounts will show up on caller IDs as “City of Naperville” and almost always show the number (630) 420-6059. The City does not make any calls from an 800 number requesting payments for utility services.
Senior citizens have also been targeted recently by so-called “grandchild scams.” In these scams, the victim receives a phone call from a “grandchild” who claims to have been arrested and requests the victim to forward funds, usually via a money transfer company, to pay for bail and/or their fine. Residents should always confirm the validity of any such information with family members prior to complying with the requests made by the caller.
In yet another common scam, residents have been called by individuals claiming to be representatives of Microsoft or other computer-related firms claiming to have remotely scanned the victim’s computer. The caller claims to have identified viruses on the victim’s computer and offers to sell the victim software and/or a monitoring program.
Anyone receiving such calls or emails should never provide the caller with any personal or banking information.