Phone calls from own number, other spoofed IDs plague North Dakota residents

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - It’s happening more and more often: you get a call from an unknown number, or even your own number, and on the other end of the line is someone with a story you’re not sure you should believe.

The calls are from scammers who are faking phone numbers to appear to be local or from someone you know. North Dakotans report scams like these every day.

“Now it’s even trickier. They say maybe it’s calling from a small city in North Dakota somewhere. You know. And it’s just annoying more than anything,” said Bismarck resident Romeo Norris.

Scammers operate under fear and urgency to trick people into giving out personal information or money.

“They tell them they’ve been involved in some horrible situation and they’re going to fix it for them. And the consumers, unfortunately, get taken in and completely hooked. And before the victims know it, they are sending hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to the scammer,” said Parrell Grossman, director of the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division of the ND Attorney General’s Office.

Parrell Grossman says recently, scammers told an 81-year-old Bismarck woman to withdraw $35,000 from her bank account and convert it to Bitcoin. She was given a number to call to verify at her bank, but the number was provided by the scammer and also fake. She spoke with a fake bank employee and the scammers made off with most of her money.

“When I am getting a fake call, I always think about the kind of more vulnerable people, like the senior citizens, that get tricked by these calls and I don’t like that at all,” said Norris.

While Your News Leader interviewed residents at Bismarck’s post office Monday, workers stopped a 90-year-old woman from sending large amounts of money to someone she didn’t know.

“Scam artists simply will lie to victims over the phone, and they do it very effectively and very convincingly. Try not to be so frightened that you simply agree to anything they tell you,” said Grossman.

Grossman says it is almost impossible to trace the source of the scam. He says it’s always a scam when you’re told to pay in certain ways, including with gift cards, Bitcoin, cash, or a wire transfer.

Information on reporting scams or rebuilding after you’ve lost money to a scam artist can be found on the North Dakota Attorney General’s website.

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