Evanston Police Warn Of Scammers Who Are Pretending To Be Officers, Claiming People Have Arrest Warrants

EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) -- Police in Evanston issued a warning Tuesday – if a detective calls asking for money, it is probably a scam.

Police said someone claiming to be Detective Jason Kohl called a resident saying there was a warrant out for their arrest. The caller proceeded to ask for $5,000 and then claimed to transfer the victim to a Lt. Daniel Russell.

The resident didn't fall for it.

Evanston police said the calls appear to be legitimate because the caller spoofs the caller ID to display (847) 866-5000, the non-emergency number for the Evanston Police Department.

Evanston police have been getting complaints about similar scams going back to April 2019.Anyone who receives such a call should ask for the name of the person calling, and then hang up and dial (847) 866-5000 to confirm whether police really called them.

Anyone with information about the scam is asked to call Evanston police or use the Text-A-Tip program. Tips should be sent to 274637 (CRIMES) and EPDTIP should be entered in the message line along with the information.