Date – September 20, 2019

Today the Westminster Police Department was notified by several citizens stating they had received a call from a Deputy Chief with Westminster PD. The caller told them they needed to send money to take care of an active warrant for their arrest.

Luckily, no one sent any money and they contacted the police department to inquire about the validity of the calls.

The Westminster Police Department will not call anyone with an outstanding warrant and demand money. In fact, we won’t give out any warrant information over the phone.  You would need to come to the police department to inquire about any active warrants you may have.

Today’s technology allows people to “spoof” the number of a legitimate business, thus making it seem as if the call is coming from the company.  In this case, while it is not a police department number that shows up on caller ID, the voicemail states it belongs to the Deputy Chief.

If you receive a call from anyone asking for money, please do not give them any personal information such as; your bank account information, social security number or date of birth.  Also, do not send money via money transfers or gift cards.

Instead, please hang up and call the business or person who is requesting the money (i.e. police department, Xcel, grandchildren) and check the validity of the request.