SIUE Police warn of ‘fines’ scam

Police at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville have warned students that a scam caller is pretending to call from police in order to steal financial information.

SIUE police sent a message to the university community warning that calls requesting payment of “fines” are not from the police, even if “Edwardsville Police Department” appears on the caller ID.

The typical caller advises the person that they have an outstanding fine that requires payment, and threatens potential arrest by an Illinois State Police officer or an agent of the IRS. They may even have the person’s name, address or university email. But despite the caller ID, this is not a legitimate call, they warned.

“Do not pay!” the message warned. “A police department will never request a payment over the phone or to be done with a prepaid card.”

If a fine is owed, the person will always be notified by mail.

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 5:01 PM with the headline "SIUE Police warn of ‘fines’ scam."