JONESBORO, Ark. – A local attorney was too wise for the efforts of scammers pretending to be a local sheriff’s office this week, a report said.
On Wednesday, the report was filed with Craighead County Sheriff’s Office. In the incident report, a local attorney said he has been receiving calls from someone imitating an officer with the CCSO. It was not a law enforcement officer, however, and was instead a criminal impersonator.
Authorities decided to investigate the owner of the provided number. AT&T was contacted, followed by Level Three Communications, who the number was associated with. However, the report said the company was unable to find user information for the phone number as it was a “bandwidth number.”
It could have been in reference to a number from Bandwidth.com, Inc., a nationwide communications and VoIP service provider which scammers so often use, the company offers warrantless information to law enforcement. However, their website notes they often do not maintain relationships with the user.
“Many of our customers use our VoIP services in a wholesale manner, offering services of their own together with a Bandwidth telephone number to their end users,” The website says. “In these cases, Bandwidth does not have a relationship to the end user or any information about the end user and how the number is being used by the end user.”
Scammers can obtain phone numbers through online services which prevent them from being traced in order to exact illicit behavior.
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