# So the police are scamming me now... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 17, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501 "2017-07-17T17:03:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/1 "2017-07-17T17:03:54Z")
On my cell phone. Very much like ‘Rachael’ from card member services. Ring Ring Ring. Hello, this is enipla. Is Dwayne there? Who are you calling for. Clicky clack… This is John from the policeman’s benevolent society. Click. REALLY pisses me off. I USED to get only import calls on my cell. Perhaps one a week. When my cell goes off, It would be either my Wife or my 87 year old mother that may very be in dire need of help. But now we get unsolicited calls from law enforcement. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/2 "2017-07-17T17:05:28Z")
I doubt that this is actually authorized by the police in your area. Or if it is, the association gets 5 or 10%, and the company takes the rest. It’s more or less a scam. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/3 "2017-07-17T17:24:37Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > On my cell phone. Very much like ‘Rachael’ from card member services. > > Ring Ring Ring. > > Hello, this is enipla. > Is Dwayne there? > Who are you calling for. > Clicky clack… > This is John from the policeman’s benevolent society. > Click. > > REALLY pisses me off. I USED to get only import calls on my cell. Perhaps one a week. When my cell goes off, It would be either my Wife or my 87 year old mother that may very be in dire need of help. > > But now we get unsolicited calls from law enforcement. Be thankful they’re not shooting you. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/4 "2017-07-17T17:42:51Z")
It’s like civil forfeiture for your cell phone minutes. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/5 "2017-07-17T17:46:03Z")
Simple answer is to look at the phone number. If it’s not Mrs. **alpine** or your mother (who would _also_ be Mrs. **alpine** , now that I think of it), let it go to voice mail. Unless your mother got married again to someone else who’s not your dad. Anyway, 87 is a good long run. My dad passed away last year at 85. Hope your mom makes 100. Take care of her. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/6 "2017-07-17T17:57:49Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Simple answer is to look at the phone number. If it’s not Mrs. **alpine** or your mother (who would _also_ be Mrs. **alpine** , now that I think of it), let it go to voice mail. It’s not the police, it’s just a “charity” trying to get you to send money. As **kaylasdad99** says, if it’s not a number you recognize, then don’t answer. I get a few each day like that. No need to get all worked up, upset, posting a rant on SDMB, etc. Your blood pressure will thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/7 "2017-07-17T18:22:25Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > Be thankful they’re not shooting you. The Police shot me through my cell phone once. It was very annoying. I had to go to the hospital for almost an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/8 "2017-07-17T18:27:32Z")
News article absolutely devoid of any news: [http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/minneapolis-police-officer-fatally-shoots-australian-bride-to-be-under-mysterious-circumstances/ar-BBEzAWC?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/minneapolis-police-officer-fatally-shoots-australian-bride-to-be-under-mysterious-circumstances/ar-BBEzAWC?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/9 "2017-07-17T18:31:37Z")
I used to get these all the time at my place of work, requesting money for the families of dead cops, to take poor kids to the circus, for injured firemen…My clueless French boss, thinking he’d, like, get worse police service or something if he didn’t pony up, had given some money to one of these assholes one time, and after that came the deluge. The pattern now, like the call to the OP, seems to be to fake a ‘wrong number’ call. I assume this is getting round some prohibition or other regarding calling cell numbers. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/10 "2017-07-17T18:31:45Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > News article absolutely devoid of any news: > > [MSN](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/minneapolis-police-officer-fatally-shoots-australian-bride-to-be-under-mysterious-circumstances/ar-BBEzAWC?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp) She was getting married to Crazy Cat? (Her fiance’s name was Don Diamond. :D) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/11 "2017-07-17T18:36:59Z")
I leave my phone off until needed. Really cuts down on the incoming bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/12 "2017-07-17T19:35:31Z")
I’ve never heard of policeman’s benevolent society’s outside old fiction of the '20s and '30s [_helas_, pretty soon we will be folk of the '20s and '30s…] — both sides of the Atlantic — when people smally bribed officers by buying tickets for the Balls the associations allegedly held. Once, a much older churchgoer next to me told me of when his father lost some horse harness, or horse blankets etc. sometime in the first two decades, when police in Britain lived in Police Houses and cars were rare, and 2 coppers turned up and promised the thieves would be caught, but maybe not the property found. After consideration he gave them a couple of notes and the property was miraculously found within a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/13 "2017-07-17T20:12:37Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > She was getting married to Crazy Cat? (Her fiance’s name was Don Diamond. :D) His name is Don Damond and he now has to plan a funeral rather than a wedding. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/14 "2017-07-17T20:48:15Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Simple answer is to look at the phone number. If it’s not Mrs. **alpine** or your mother (who would _also_ be Mrs. **alpine** , now that I think of it), let it go to voice mail. You should really give them different names in your list of contacts… ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/15 "2017-07-17T23:20:59Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > I leave my phone off until needed. Really cuts down on the incoming bullshit. I left mine in the Jeep for 3 weeks once and never missed it. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/16 "2017-07-18T00:31:16Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > On my cell phone. Very much like ‘Rachael’ from card member services. > > Ring Ring Ring. > > Hello, this is enipla. > Is Dwayne there? > Who are you calling for. > Clicky clack… > This is John from the policeman’s benevolent society. > Click. > > REALLY pisses me off. I USED to get only import calls on my cell. Perhaps one a week. When my cell goes off, It would be either my Wife or my 87 year old mother that may very be in dire need of help. > > But now we get unsolicited calls from law enforcement. It’s not the actual police, moron. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/17 "2017-07-18T02:14:23Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Simple answer is to look at the phone number. If it’s not Mrs. **alpine** or your mother (who would _also_ be Mrs. **alpine** , now that I think of it), let it go to voice mail. > … Why would they be named alpine? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/18 "2017-07-18T03:14:10Z")
Palindrome of the PO? Oops, meant the OP… ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/19 "2017-07-18T11:48:32Z")
Policemen don’t have balls. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501/20 "2017-07-18T11:56:44Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > His name is Don Damond and he now has to plan a funeral rather than a wedding. I misread it as Don Diamond and I was going for a joke. Don Diamond played the Hekawi Indian Crazy Cat on _F Troop_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-police-are-scamming-me-now/791501.md?page=2)