It might have been a little embarrassing to admit, but the Regina Police Service has fallen victim to a phishing scam.
On Friday, the RPS was sent a direct message from someone they were following with a link taking them away from the page. What showed up was what appeared to be a Twitter webpage saying their session had timed out and that they needed to re-enter their username and password.
Obviously Elizabeth Popowich, spokesperson for the RPS, entered the information because around 250 of their followers received direct messages from them asking for the same information.
“It’s not vital information, but it’s a nuisance,” said Popowich after sending out tweets urging people to ignore the messages. “Always just make sure that the URL of the site that you go to is exactly correct. That was my mistake—not checking the URL.”
The force has since changed their Twitter password and says anyone else who has been scammed should do the same. They are not investigating the scam.
The sham site has been reported and been taken down.