Police Call May Be Most Common In Western New York

Thank you, sheriffs and officers, for serving and protecting our citizens. We sincerely appreciate you. 

Our local police departments get a lot of phone calls every week, but there are a few calls that can be recurring. 

According to the Vera Institute of Justice, a leader in criminal justice research, the most common 911 calls across the country are typically related to business checks, disturbances, suspicious persons, and complaints. However, there is a common 911 call that continues to happen in Western New York, and more specifically, in Cheektowaga. 

The Cheektowaga Scanner shared a unique update on Facebook. The account often reports and reposts active incidents and information as it becomes available over the scanner, and this week, the Cheektowaga Scanner revealed that they would be posting more of these particular 911 calls because it happens “at least 1x a week.”

That common 911 call is from elderly residents reporting that they believe that they have been a recent victim of a scam. 

On Wednesday evening, the Cheektowaga Scanner shared what they heard on the scanner.

“6:44pm Report an elderly female believes she's victim of internet scam, withdrew 22k from the bank...still has it but they got her info.”

There are so many scams out there right now, and it continues to get worse – especially with artificial intelligence. The Federal Trade Commission warned us about how realistic the scams can get, detailing how a scammer could potentially use AI to clone the voice of a loved one. 

Read More: This Apartment Scam Is Very Convincing in Buffalo, New York

“All [the scammer] needs is a short audio clip of your family member's voice — which he could get from content posted online — and a voice-cloning program,” the FTC said. “When the scammer calls you, he'll sound just like your loved one.”

It’s very scary the lengths that people will go to scam others, and you never want it to happen to your loved ones, so maybe this is a sign to check in on our older relatives to make sure they know the warning signs to watch for a scam. 

Greg from West Seneca commented on The Cheektowaga Scanner page, confirming that the scams are all over. He wrote, “My wife works at Target, and the elderly do this at least once a month, where they go in and buy thousands of dollars in credit cards and the employees tell them it’s a scam.”

“[Employees] told her and she insisted it was a gift,” Greg wrote. “Come to find out she was told her grandson was in jail and needed these cards to get out and not to tell anyone.”

While we cannot control what the scammers do, we can help our older relatives and friends be aware of the scams out there, and it may help limit these future 911 calls.