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It turns out that even law enforcement are not immune from being targeted by criminals, as Dublin Police Chief Garrett Holmes experienced when he received a fake traffic ticket through email recently.
“Even our Police Chief receives email scams. Beware of email citation scams similar to this one,” Dublin city officials said on social media last week. Also posted was a screenshot of the email sent to Holmes, originating from a return address that mimicked an official Department of Transportation account.
The email reads as follows: “Mr./Ms. Holmes, our traffic cameras recorded you running a red light on July 28, 2020. As such, you have been charged with a traffic citation.”
The message then instructs Holmes to contest the citation in court or pay the fine online by Aug. 14, and provides a hyperlink to a website that corresponds with the original email address. A Weekly investigation of the website found a landing page with redirects and numerous pop-up ads.
Holmes told the Weekly that he received the citation through his official city email on Aug. 7, but said it wasn’t the first time.
“I received another one about a month ago that stated I was caught speeding with a listed address of the police station,” Holmes said.
The city has “seen an increase in phishing scams” since the start of the pandemic, according to Holmes.
“In the past year or so several cities have been subject to ransomware attacks. We are looking into the origin of the email but these type of investigations are difficult to track down,” he added.
Holmes shared the email “in order to bring to light that regardless of who you are you could be targeted.”
“Unfortunately community members, especially the elderly, can be manipulated by these opportunists and lose thousands of dollars,” he said.
The Pleasanton Police Department also sent out a notice on Thursday, warning the community to be on alert for a phone scam in which a prerecorded message demands that the receiver send money with a gift card or their electricity will be shut off.
“If you receive a call claiming your electricity will be disconnected unless you send PG&E money via gift cards, this is a scam,” PPD said.
Earlier this year, residents also reported receiving phone calls from scammers posing as the PPD and demanding payment to avoid jail time. As with the PG&E scam, people were told to pay with a prepaid card.
