Consumer Rights · Scam Alert · October 6, 2026, 9:10 AM CDT
Key Facts
- The Wahpeton, North Dakota, Police Department warned on October 6, 2026 that scam calls are showing its own phone number, 701-642-7722, which police say “was hijacked.”[1]
- The caller poses as Police Chief Matthew Anderson and claims to be with the Federal Trade Commission.[1]
- The caller demands money through money orders or cashier’s checks, and the caller ID reads “Apeton Police Department.”[1]
- Police say they will never call to demand payment or threaten arrest. The FTC says the same about itself.[1][2]
The phone rings and the screen says it is the police department. The voice says it is the chief, and the Federal Trade Commission too. Then comes the demand: money orders or cashier’s checks. Wahpeton police say the call is a scam, and the number on your screen is their own.
Police told residents the department’s number, 701-642-7722, “was hijacked.” Anyone who gets a call like this can ring the department on that same number with questions.[1]
The report does not say how many people were called or whether anyone paid. It does say how the call is built, and the details are worth reading closely.
Three borrowed names in one call
The caller borrows three things at once. The phone number belongs to the real department. The name is the real police chief’s. And the second agency, the Federal Trade Commission, is a federal body the caller claims to represent.[1]
Each one is there to make you stop questioning. A number on a screen can be faked, so it says nothing about who is actually calling. The caller ID in this case even carried a misspelling, “Apeton,” with the W missing from the town’s name.[1]
How the call unfolds, step by step
The animation below follows the order of the report. Every step is a sentence from the news story, word for word. The report does not include a recording or a script, so this is a picture of the scheme, not a transcript.
What the real agencies say
The FTC is blunt about its own name. “The FTC will never call you to demand money,” it says, and it will not threaten you with arrest or promise you a prize either. Scammers often use the names of real employees to sound convincing.[2]
The same pattern shows up with local police. The FTC warned in 2025 that scammers pose as sheriffs and deputies, claim a package with the victim’s name on it was seized, and threaten arrest unless the victim pays. It lists real law enforcement as something that will never call to say you are going to be arrested.[3]
That video is from another police department. The scam in Wahpeton is the same kind of call.
The pin marks Wahpeton as named in the report, not an exact address. Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors. Street photo (2024): Myotus, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
What’s Disputed or Unconfirmed
- The call itself. The report does not give the caller’s words, an audio recording or how many residents were called.[1]
- What “hijacked” means. Police used that word for their number. The report does not explain how it was done.[1]
- Other cases. The FTC guidance describes the general pattern. It does not say these calls come from the same people.[2][3]
How to Protect Yourself
- Hang up. Police say they will never call to demand payment or threaten arrest.[1]
- Do not trust the number on the screen. A real department number can be faked.[1]
- Do not pay by money order or cashier’s check, or by gift card, cryptocurrency, payment app or wire. Real law enforcement does not demand those.[1][3]
- Do not call back a number the caller gives you. Contact the department yourself, as Wahpeton police ask, on 701-642-7722.[1]
- Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.[3]
How to Verify This Yourself
Read the Wahpeton police alert as reported by KVLY, and compare it with the two FTC alerts below.
References
- Schlies, P., “Scam Alert: Wahpeton Police phone hijacked,” KVLY (Valley News Live), October 6, 2026. Secondary (news report of the police department’s alert). valleynewslive.com
- Puig, A., “The FTC won’t demand money, threaten you, or promise you a prize,” Federal Trade Commission, July 5, 2023. Primary (government consumer alert). consumer.ftc.gov
- “Scammers are impersonating local law enforcement,” Federal Trade Commission, July 1, 2025. Primary (government consumer alert). consumer.ftc.gov
Investigative methodology: this post was rewritten from the reports linked above. Quotation marks mark wording as it appears in those sources. The animation uses sentences copied from the news report and is labelled as a description because the call or message itself was not published. No wording was invented.
Kemetic Minds Editorial Desk
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