Lincoln Police are crediting two women for not falling for a police impersonation scam that is making the rounds . Sergeant Chris Vollmer says both women received similar calls on Monday afternoon.
Vollmer says a 53 year old woman says she received a call that her caller ID identified as LPD’s non-emergency number 402-441-6000. The callers claimed the victim failed to appear in federal court and needed to pay $14,000 in fines or face arrest.”
The scammers told her the payment needed to be made through Apple Pay or Zillow. “The victim advised she was going to call the police non-emergency herself to confirm the identity of the callers. The callers then disconnected,” Vollmer says.
LPD says a second woman received a call that was very similar to the first one. She was instructed to go to the Hy-Vee at 7151 Stacy Lane and pay her fines by money order. “When the victim arrived at Hy Vee she felt this was a scam and informed the caller she would rather speak with an officer in person and called police.”
Neither woman lost any money. Vollmer reminds all citizens that police do not have the ability to accept payment of fines for anything. Government
entities do not accept payment in the form of gift cards, money order, cash app, Venmo, green dot or any other convenience-based transaction service.