What kind of scam is this? Cold case filter
February 1, 2022 6:04 AM Subscribe
My wife got a call from a purported "detective" around a cold case. Gave his badge number (though haven't looked it up. It was about her father-- he had the name and year of death correct. However, as far as we know, there was nothing criminal about his death (an accident) and it was in an entirely different side of the country. Seems fishy-- what could be the angle here?
A scam artist could have picked up all sorts of details about your FIL's death, especially if it was an accident and reported in any local newspapers. They might be looking to extort her for money by claiming he was involved in something fishy and needs "cover up" money.
That said, it could also be perfectly legit. Definitely contact the cop's department and ask about it before you do anything else. Impersonating an officer is also a criminal offense in many places, especially if it's being done in order to commit a crime.
posted by fight or flight at 6:21 AM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
That said, it could also be perfectly legit. Definitely contact the cop's department and ask about it before you do anything else. Impersonating an officer is also a criminal offense in many places, especially if it's being done in order to commit a crime.
posted by fight or flight at 6:21 AM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Has your wife ever had a DNA test done?
posted by drezdn at 6:27 AM on February 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 6:27 AM on February 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
Back when the white pages were the way to find people's phone numbers, you could pay a fee to keep your number unlisted. A list of names in the obituaries + the white pages would be material to keep a misanthrope busy for days, so that fee was often a steal compared to the hassle of heavy breathers, scam artists, etc.
I would 100% alert the Police Department and hand over all the information he offered your wife, then block the number. If he's actually a detective investigating a cold case, he can afford the stamp to send you some paper with the details. A legit person would expect this; a scam artist will have 16.000 reasons why not. A cold call about a cold case is suspicious as hell.
posted by adekllny at 6:55 AM on February 1, 2022
I would 100% alert the Police Department and hand over all the information he offered your wife, then block the number. If he's actually a detective investigating a cold case, he can afford the stamp to send you some paper with the details. A legit person would expect this; a scam artist will have 16.000 reasons why not. A cold call about a cold case is suspicious as hell.
posted by adekllny at 6:55 AM on February 1, 2022
+1 to call the police department that he's allegedly working for.
See what they say about the situation.
posted by theorique at 7:25 AM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
See what they say about the situation.
posted by theorique at 7:25 AM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Definitely call the police, that is solid.
I wonder if it's a scam to get more personal information, like all of the security questions: a person's maiden name, the house or town they were born in or grew up in. I've seen a few security questions and identity validation systems ask about phone numbers, street names, and more that one has or has not been associated with (so multiple choice, which of these streets have you lived on or been associated with in your life? kind of things).
posted by Snowishberlin at 7:35 AM on February 1, 2022
I wonder if it's a scam to get more personal information, like all of the security questions: a person's maiden name, the house or town they were born in or grew up in. I've seen a few security questions and identity validation systems ask about phone numbers, street names, and more that one has or has not been associated with (so multiple choice, which of these streets have you lived on or been associated with in your life? kind of things).
posted by Snowishberlin at 7:35 AM on February 1, 2022
If it is a scam it's better not to engage and if it's not a scam it's even better not to engage.
posted by bleep at 8:19 AM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by bleep at 8:19 AM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
Best answer: Yes, I would call their department and look up the badge number.
The scam could be anything: getting your wife to transfer money to bank account if her dad was involved in some crime, details of yourself and your family (they got the dad’s name, now they need your childhood friend’s name).
But it is weird, I never heard of anything like this before.
Either way please do update us! Sounds like a story from a novel.
posted by moiraine at 8:28 AM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
The scam could be anything: getting your wife to transfer money to bank account if her dad was involved in some crime, details of yourself and your family (they got the dad’s name, now they need your childhood friend’s name).
But it is weird, I never heard of anything like this before.
Either way please do update us! Sounds like a story from a novel.
posted by moiraine at 8:28 AM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Could just be fishing for your wife to reveal personally identifying information, such that they can hack into her accounts.
posted by Dashy at 8:53 AM on February 1, 2022
posted by Dashy at 8:53 AM on February 1, 2022
It was about her father-- he had the name and year of death correct. However, as far as we know, there was nothing criminal about his death (an accident) and it was in an entirely different side of the country.
Is the name sufficiently unique? Maybe they are legitimate but inept and they are actually looking for the family of some other person that died that year and shared a name with your father in law.
posted by each day we work at 9:00 AM on February 1, 2022
Is the name sufficiently unique? Maybe they are legitimate but inept and they are actually looking for the family of some other person that died that year and shared a name with your father in law.
posted by each day we work at 9:00 AM on February 1, 2022
Best answer: Definitely call and confirm identification.
IF he's legit, call him back and ask what this is about. Don't offer any information, just hear him out. It may just be that her dad worked with somebody, went to school with somebody, bought a house/car/boat from somebody, or otherwise had some kind of confirmable contact with someone that will place that person's movements. Consider what you generally read about cold cases - they're largely solved on the basis of information somebody else has about the victim or perpetrator's whereabouts or lack thereof.
You don't have to answer any questions, you may not be able to, and also anything this detective says may be a lie to get some entirely different information from you. But if he is legitimately with that police department I would at least hear him out, get information about any newspaper etc articles about the cold case, and tell him you'll check that out and get back to him if you want to discuss it.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:04 AM on February 1, 2022
IF he's legit, call him back and ask what this is about. Don't offer any information, just hear him out. It may just be that her dad worked with somebody, went to school with somebody, bought a house/car/boat from somebody, or otherwise had some kind of confirmable contact with someone that will place that person's movements. Consider what you generally read about cold cases - they're largely solved on the basis of information somebody else has about the victim or perpetrator's whereabouts or lack thereof.
You don't have to answer any questions, you may not be able to, and also anything this detective says may be a lie to get some entirely different information from you. But if he is legitimately with that police department I would at least hear him out, get information about any newspaper etc articles about the cold case, and tell him you'll check that out and get back to him if you want to discuss it.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:04 AM on February 1, 2022
Response by poster: Updates:
1. She's taken an ancestry.com DNA test in the last five years
2. Called the PD-- he's a real detective.
3. she left a message on the phone number he left in the VM.
posted by sandmanwv at 10:43 AM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
1. She's taken an ancestry.com DNA test in the last five years
2. Called the PD-- he's a real detective.
3. she left a message on the phone number he left in the VM.
posted by sandmanwv at 10:43 AM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
3. she left a message on the phone number he left in the VM.
I may be a bit paranoid, I would contact him by independently looking up a phone number--even if it's just calling to the PD and asking to be transferred. This rules out the "scammer falsely using the name/badge of a real person" angle.
posted by mark k at 11:09 AM on February 1, 2022 [22 favorites]
I may be a bit paranoid, I would contact him by independently looking up a phone number--even if it's just calling to the PD and asking to be transferred. This rules out the "scammer falsely using the name/badge of a real person" angle.
posted by mark k at 11:09 AM on February 1, 2022 [22 favorites]
Oh yeah, I meant look up the number to call the front desk and say "I was contacted by someone saying he was X name, X badge number, X phone number, can you confirm this is all legitimate?"
posted by Lyn Never at 11:30 AM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Lyn Never at 11:30 AM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I second getting transferred by the actual department. A friend had a "detective" contact them using correct name and badge of an actual detective. Upon reaching the department and getting transferred, the detective's gatekeeper almost immediately said it's a scam when they started explaining their initial conversation.
posted by mightshould at 11:31 AM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by mightshould at 11:31 AM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
2. Called the PD-- he's a real detective.
Or impersonating a real detective. Again, look up the external number of the police department yourself, and ask a different person whether this is a real case and whether the person claiming to be X detective is really X detective.
posted by JimN2TAW at 11:33 AM on February 1, 2022
Or impersonating a real detective. Again, look up the external number of the police department yourself, and ask a different person whether this is a real case and whether the person claiming to be X detective is really X detective.
posted by JimN2TAW at 11:33 AM on February 1, 2022
Response by poster: We're not a paranoid family, but anyways she talked to the detective-- they had found information on the cold case and wanted to get in contact with the family of the deceased.
It was a different person with same name (name is pretty common, especially in the time frame) who died in the same year over 30 years ago.
posted by sandmanwv at 12:28 PM on February 1, 2022 [29 favorites]
It was a different person with same name (name is pretty common, especially in the time frame) who died in the same year over 30 years ago.
posted by sandmanwv at 12:28 PM on February 1, 2022 [29 favorites]
Sounds like this is resolved, but for anyone else looking to this question for advice in the future, get the number of the police department by googling "police nonemergency number " where location is the city and state, state and county, or whatever the name of the agency is. If you have gotten a phone message from someone claiming to be a detective and not giving enough information on the phone to figure out what agency they are with it's probably a scam -- an actual police detective shouldn't leave you guessing whether they work for the police of a city, suburb of the city, county, state, tribal police, FS police, etc.
Probably seems obvious now, but often in a stressful situation people default to calling 911 to reach the police.
posted by yohko at 10:42 AM on February 2, 2022
Probably seems obvious now, but often in a stressful situation people default to calling 911 to reach the police.
posted by yohko at 10:42 AM on February 2, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
I’d approach this like I would any other maybe-scam and approach it from the opposite direction of the individual. Contact the PD and establish contact from that direction. If it’s someone falsely claiming to be a member of their department I’m sure they will be very interested.
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:16 AM on February 1, 2022 [21 favorites]