Police warn about Siri scam going around

A sheriff’s office in Oregon is warning iPhone users about a new scam that results in false 911 calls.

According to a post on the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, there is a scam targeting local counties and it wants to warn others about its possibility.

According to the sheriff’s office, people see a social media post or someone tells them to have Siri call 108 and wait a minute. The phone registers that you need help and that call becomes 911. This is because iPhones are able to recognize equivalent emergency response numbers from other countries and 108 is one of them – from India.

Law enforcement in Bannock County said they haven’t seen this scam hit locally yet, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still have their own set of issues with 911 calls.

Dispatch gets an uncountable number of calls a day. Some are emergencies and others aren’t. Dispatch workers said they get calls asking about weather conditions, calls about people parked illegally, or the caller just needed someone to talk to. A lot of things that aren’t emergencies, but tie up the dispatchers from taking other calls.

Workers said they also get a lot of kids who get ahold of their parents’ phone and accidentally call. And every so often, they get an intended prank.

Officers with Pocatello police said it doesn’t happen often – they probably only give out five citations a year at the most for prank 911 calls. But dispatchers said abuse of 911 is a daily occurrence.

Another problem Pocatello PD’s dispatch gets a lot are butt, or pocket, dials. Most phones on the lock screen have an emergency call button or icon and that can easily get pushed. Pocatello PD said it’s hard for them to determine automatically if it’s a mis-dial or if someone is genuinely in trouble. So often, if they can’t locate the person, officers respond.

Whatever type of call it may be, Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen said it takes money and resources to send someone on a call. It can really stretch officers thin.

“I have as little as two on shift sometimes to cover 1,100 square miles,” Nielsen said. “If I’ve got one of my officers tied up to amuse somebody, somebody else that needs that is going to get in real harm and we just can’t tolerate that.”

Nielsen said there is a difference between an “unnecessary” call and a “phony” call. He said he doesn’t want to discourage people from calling 911 if they feel unsafe or feel that they need help. He said he would much rather have officers respond and find nothing than to find a horrible situation later on. However, he said he does not want people abusing that and making things up to call out officers. That’s when an officer’s time was wasted, not on a call where someone was legitimately worried.

Nielsen said they don’t get pranks often. He said that’s partly because it’s a great area and people are respectful. But he said another part is because law enforcement can easily trace who and where that prank call came from. He said 911 mistakes or mishaps are one thing – officers will be understanding. But a prank call they will prosecute.

Bannock County prosecutor Stephen Herzog said in Idaho, prank 911 calls are a misdemeanor. It could be six months to one year in jail and up to $1,000 fine, depending on the judge’s ruling. But recurring offenses get you into bigger trouble. Herzog also said that if a phony 911 call results in a costly call-out, that person could be civilly charged for that cost.

Herzog said if you’re even tempted to prank 911, think about dispatch. He has a suggestion.

“People ought to consider going in and watching dispatch work sometime on a Friday night and see what they do,” he said. “They juggle a lot and the last thing they need are prank calls.”

Nielsen said nowadays, about 60 percent of the 911 calls they receive are from cell phones.

Officers said it’s important to keep an eye on your phone and to always make sure you know who you’re calling.

According to that post from the Oregon sheriff’s office, some other numbers to avoid are 112, 110, 999 and 000. The sheriff’s office said its communications division tested those numbers and confirmed that having Siri dial any of those numbers result in a 911 call to a local emergency communications center.