The Guelph Police Service is cautioning the public if you receive a call which appears to be from the Guelph Police phone number (519-824-1212) that it is not the police calling.
There have been several recent reports of individuals – including at least one Guelph Police constable – receiving calls from someone using the police phone number and claiming to be conducting an investigation. Such calls are placed with technology which easily allows the caller to 'spoof' a legitimate phone number so that number appears on the recipient’s call display.
Generally the caller will claim to be a person of authority and ask for the recipient’s personal information, such as a social insurance number or banking information. Anyone receiving such a call should hang up without providing any information, then locate the agency’s phone number and call them back to determine the legitimacy of the call.
Please note if the Guelph Police Service was to call you it would come up as ‘unknown caller’ on call display.
The Guelph Police Fraud Unit recommends these steps to protect yourself:
- Register your phone number with Canada’s Do Not Call List - https://lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/en
- If you answer the phone and hear a recorded message, hang up. DO NOT press 1 or call back
- If you are not expecting a call or do not recognize the phone number, let the call go to your answering machine.
