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Arkansas restaurants receiving countless calls after phone number spoof

You may have had trouble placing an order at Riverdale restaurants after business owners began getting numerous calls from people outside of the state.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark — If you've tried to place a to-go order from restaurants in the Riverdale area, you may have had trouble getting through.

Business owners said that they're getting bombarded with countless return calls from people outside of the state. 

The calls started at the beginning of the week for most of the restaurants and it's likely due to scammers who have spoofed their phone numbers. 

"We probably got about 50 calls yesterday and I've had at least 25 or 30 calls today. It's obviously someone spoofing our number trying to hide whoever they really are," said Tony Nesa, General Manager of Pizza Cafe.

He said they got a call yesterday from someone outside of the state that claimed to be returning a call that promised them a $5,000 prize.

"Honestly, all we can tell them is 'someone is scamming our number and sorry.' I've been recommending if they're calling from a cell phone to block the number, that way they don't get a call again," said Nesa. 

Now following the spoofing of their number, those with the restaurant said that it's been hard to tell when the phone rings whether the call they're receiving is for an actual order, or a scam. 

This is something that's being seen at various businesses in the area. Other restaurants in Riverdale have had to turn their phones off to stop the constant calls. 

For the time being, if you try to call the Faded Rose Restaurant you'll get the following voicemail: 

"Thank you for calling the Faded Rose Restaurant. We've been experiencing phone issues so if you have a missed call from us, you can just regard it."

After hearing the voicemail, customers now have to go through the added step of pressing '1' afterwards to get through to the restaurant. 

The voicemail is being used as a way of deterring those who are being scammed from calling back.

"We're getting phone call after phone call after phone call, literally the phone would not stop ringing. It's from folks from all over the United States. Chicago. California," said Gary Dillon, manager of the Faded Rose.  

And while the voicemail helps, Dillon said there are still occasionally people that will call back flustered. 

"This morning we got one and they used a lot of profanity towards one of the employees because they don't know what's going on," he said. 

This is something that Arkansans have seen before. Cara Carlin with the Better Business Bureau of Arkansas said the technique of spoofing phones is one used by scammers. 

"The goal is to use a local number so that you will answer the phone. It's called spoofing. Once you answer because you think you're answering a familiar answer, they can pitch their scam," said Carlin.

That's not the only reason though. Carlin said they sometimes call to see who will answer so they use the numbers for other reasons.

"They use different apps and computer programs to make this work. In some cases it'll display as a local business or a person with whom you've previously communicated with," said Carlin.

While spoofing continues to be a problem, it's an issue that the restaurants are hoping will go away soon as the calls continue to come in.

This also poses a problem for those like Dillon, who said it's difficult to change the restaurants number as it's attached to so much of their branding and marketing materials.

   

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