Ramona Sentinel alerts parents, teens about impostor

By Maureen Robertson

Ramona Sentinel alerts the public to the fact that someone called a teenage girl about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday impersonating a reporter and attempting to get personal information from the girl.

The Ramona teen’s mother was in a vehicle with her daughter when the girl answered the cell phone. The mother, who will remain anonymous, said the call came from a restricted number and her daughter said it sounded like a woman who said she was with the Sentinel and doing an article about students going back to school.

The mother said she sensed something wasn’t right when her daughter started giving personal information such as her age and grade in school. When the teenager started to give her address, the mother grabbed the phone and asked who it was. The caller hung up.

“She gave the first two numbers of our street address when I took the phone,” the mother said.

The mother called the Sentinel Thursday to inform the paper of the call and agreed it is important to alert the public to the phone hoax that has the potential of being dangerous. Her daughter was emotionally shaken by the incident, particularly after the mother explained the possible ramifications of giving personal information to an unknown person.

“There’s no reason they would ask your address,” she told her daughter. “...You can never be too careful.”