Phone number scam targeting couples
A sophisticated new scam is targeting couples by imitating their partner’s phone number.
Vodafone and Spark confirmed scammers were able to manipulate caller ID so victims believed they were answering a loved one’s call.
Two separate victims have come forward to say they were targeted in the complex scam, with one of the victims left $2300 out of pocket. Auckland woman Unati Patel said the scammer calling from her husband’s phone number - claimed to be a police officer holding her husband in custody.
When Patel asked the caller for further details he refused and told her she was ‘‘talking to a police officer and not a neighbour or a friend’’. The caller hung up when she told him she needed some time to figure out what was going on.
Patel said the caller had obtained the couple’s mobile phone numbers after a landline phone call from someone who wanted to deliver a package.
Sophia Abid* said the caller claimed to be a police investigator who was holding her partner and teenage daughter for security reasons.
Abid said she could hear her husband in the background. The scammers had recorded his voice earlier that morning when he answered a call on their home phone from a man claiming to be from the Electoral Commission.
She said her husband was asked for the couple’s mobile numbers to deliver an important package. Hours later, Abid received a phone call from her husband’s number and the caller said she needed to pay $2300 for her husband’s release. When she told him she did not have a credit card, she was asked to purchase $100 iTunes cards. The caller then said she needed to pay a further $6700.
At that point she went to a friend’s house for help and called her daughter. It turned out she was safe at home.
A Spark spokeswoman said the scam used number spoofing by using an app or a paid service to manipulate the display name on the recipient’s phone.
Police said they were investigating the scam and confirmed Detective sergeant Bridget Doell said police, or any other government agency, will never demand any payment over the phone.
* Sophia is not her real name.