Scammers often try to get their victim mentally off-balance first before making their move and one of the easiest ways to do this is to induce a reaction of fear.
People who are panicking don’t tend to make the best decisions and can be easy to trick.
One way to get someone afraid is to make them believe that they’re in trouble with the law. While that may work for ordinary people, two scammers made the mistake of trying this tactic on a police officer, a police captain, no less.
Watch the video of the police captain trolling the scammers below.
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Video credit: Rumble
Ann Stephens is a police captain at the Apex Police Department in North Carolina. Two men tried to get her personal information by calling her and claiming that a sheriff’s deputy was on the way to arrest her. She recorded the conversation and shared it on Facebook as a warning to others and it has quickly gone viral.
Two men who called themselves “John Black” and “Jason Brown” called Stephens and told her she was facing multiple charges and that several agencies were monitoring their call. Stephens played along and had the department record the exchange and posted it on its Facebook page to warn people about scams like these.
“These are scam calls,” Stephens said. “Don’t ever give out your information. Don’t ever verify their information even if they have it.”
The caller asked for the last four digits of the captain’s social security number saying there were several charges filed against that number. He also asked for Stephens’ address. So she gave the police department’s address – 205 Saunders Street – but refused to give out her social security number.
Stephens said at one point, “No, I’m not going to give you my address. If you have my file on me, you should know what my address is.”
Another clip showed Stephens shaking her head and mouthing ‘noooo’ to the camera when she was asked to give her social security number. The men also asked how many bank accounts she had.
The man then said she was about to be arrested due to “serious allegations” after she refused to comply. He even said a deputy would be at her door in 45 minutes for money laundering and drug trafficking charges while another said she was maintaining illegal bank accounts. When they pressed and asked who she shared her social security number with, Stephens replied, “I certainly didn’t share it with a drug dealer.”
One of the men abruptly hung up and that was the end of it. The Facebook post has been shared more than 2,300 times with more than 400 comments.
At the end of the video, Stephens said, “They’re all scammers. Just hang up on ’em or have a little fun.”
When interviewed by ABC11, Stephens said, “A lot of people want to engage the scammer and keep them on the phone and have a little fun with them. But a lot of people don’t have time or are just afraid to do it, so I think they got to live vicariously through us.
“If somebody calls and says they’re the Social Security Administration, hang up and call them back yourself. Call the number on the Social Security Administration website or IRS website and talk to them, but none of those agencies will ever ask for your information over the phone so that should be your first sign it’s a scam.”
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