METAIRIE, La. (WGNO) — Annually, over 13 million people use the Causeway Bridge to get to and from the north and south shore.
Currently, there are 30 officers who patrol it.
WGNO’s Amy Russo asked the general manager at the Causeway how many of those officers will pick up the phone and call people asking for money, to which he laughed and said “none.”
But a person pretending to be a Causeway Police Officer is doing just that. They’re calling victims, specifically in the medical field that travel from shore to shore, demanding gift card payments.
The imposter says if they don’t comply they’ll be arrested.
“A woman came into the office and actually told us that an officer has called and that they were told to come here with $8,000 worth of gift cards because there was a warrant out for their arrest,” said Carlton Dufrechou, the GM of the Causeway.
With today’s technology, cybersecurity expert Alton Johnson says it’s easy to pretend you’re someone you’re not.
“You don’t have to be super knowledgeable to try to like scam people these days – there’s a lot of services that will let you spoof wherever you want,” said Alton Johnson. He’s the founder of Vonhai Security.
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He says you should be alert. If you don’t know a number, let it go to voicemail.
He adds don’t give out your private information and if it sounds fishy, it probably is.
Causeway Police Department officials agree.
“Bottom line is to use common sense,” said Dufrechou.