CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Millions of people are scammed every year according to the Federal Trade Commission and the most reported fraud in 2022 is done by imposters. Many times individuals convince a person they are someone of authority like the IRS, social security, or law enforcement.
A South Charlotte resident is warning others about these scams after she received a call from someone impersonating a sergeant at the local police department.
“This is Sergeant Charlie Davis with the Charlotte police department,” a voice from a voicemail Amy Harrison received said. “I have legal documents here that require your immediate attention.”
It was a call she believed was from someone working with CMPD.
“It was a little bit convincing in the beginning and a little nerve-wracking,” Harrison said.
The phone number came up as the city of Charlotte and that made her think it was an official call.
“My biggest concern was he knew my real name and he knew my phone number,” Harrison said. “I’m not easy to find.”
Harrison became suspicious because she knew she had no legal issues, and the callback number was different from the initial call but unsure she called back.
“He told me, he was putting me on a recorded line to protect himself and me and asked me if I was in a confidential place where I could speak," she said. "At that point, I put him on speakerphone. He could tell I put him on speaker and he hung up.”
That’s when she knew it was a scam.
However, not everyone is so lucky. The Federal Trade Commission noted 2.4 million fraud reports in 2022 totaling 8.8 billion dollars in losses, up 30 percent from the previous year.
The top frauds include imposters, online shopping, prizes, investments, business, and job opportunities.
Harrison shared the incident in a post on Nextdoor and several people said they received similar calls.
One woman shared she was on the phone for about an hour with a person also identified as Sergeant Davis where she was threatened with jail time and told she had over $24,000 in fines for missing a court date. She eventually figured out it was a scam.
Harrison hopes spreading awareness about the incident will help stop a potential scam.
“There's a lot of vulnerable people that wouldn't maybe pick up on some of the flags that I noticed regarding the numbers being different. And I know that they get taken for a lot of money," she said. "So I wanted to post about it in case anybody else got that call.”
Harrison also reported it to the police. CMPD said this type of scam is common and reminds folks police would not call to request personal information, or legal information, advise a victim they have a warrant for their arrests, or call for any type of payment. If you do get a call like this hang up and report it to police.