Escondido Police Warns Public to Be Wary of Frequent Fraudulent Scam
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 16, 2014
CONTACT: Lt. Eric Skaja / 760-839-4444
SUBJECT: Escondido Police Warns Public to Be Wary of Frequent Fraudulent Scam
Recently, Escondido Police Communications has received numerous calls from victims and near victims regarding attempts of fraud. The victims have reported similar descriptions of the scam, possibly indicating the incidents are related. Essentially the suspects are calling potential victims and erroneously pretending to be friends of a loved one of the victim. The suspects then make a convincing story that the loved one is in Escondido’s jail and they need money to bail them out.
The Escondido Police Department has a Holding Facility that is sometimes referred to as a jail. Prisoners arrested in Escondido are transported and booked into The Vista Correctional Facility. Prisoners are not bailed out from the Escondido Police Department’s Holding Facility but can post bail later from Vista.
This is a scam. The actors are criminals and their story can be very convincing. Sometimes they are crying, so the person being called cannot tell that it is not their friend or loved one on the phone. Sometimes the caller gives a phone number to call back to confirm the story is legitimate. When the caller makes the call back, the actor on the line pretends they are a police station or jail. We encourage the public to confirm information before giving money to someone and never give out any of your personal information to an unconfirmed source. The public telephone number for the Escondido Police Department is 760-839-4722.
Address/Location
Escondido Police Department
1163 N. Centre City Parkway
Escondido, CA 92026
Contact
Emergency: 9-1-1
Non-emergencies: 760-839-4722