Gwinnett County's reverse 911 alert mistaken for scam due to provider errors

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - If you recently got a message from Gwinnett County police about a missing boy, it was the real deal. The problem is, many people thought it was not. Police say that’s because many people’s cell-service providers inaccurately indicated the call was likely a scam.

Gwinnett County police last Thursday sent out an automated call about a missing little boy: "This is an emergency notification from Gwinnett County police in reference to a missing 6-year-old."

It’s part of the department’s reverse 911 system. "It is an audio message that is generated to let citizens in the community know of certain issues. Most often it’s used for missing elderly adults or missing juveniles," said Cpl. Ryan Winderweedle. "We’ve been using reverse 911 for many, many years now."

Police say the reverse 911 system is supposed to send out the call to the small area where the person in danger disappeared. "The automated system sends out a message, hopefully to a couple-thousand people in a half-mile area," Winderweedle said.

Police say the call went to a lot of phone customers in a wider area. "People who were not in the vicinity of the missing child received those messages," Winderweedle said.

Police told FOX 5 that the large number of automated calls triggered scam alerts on many people’s phones. "It’s difficult when the carriers list is as ‘scam likely.’ It’s coming from an automated system and it’s dialing so many phone numbers at one time," Winderweedle said.

Police also say many cell-service providers transcribed the voicemails improperly. "Those transcriptions were creating a lot of grammatical errors, changing words," Winderweedle said.

Many people who received the calls thought the messages were bogus. "People were sending us messages and posting online, thinking it was some kind of scam," Winderweedle said.

However, the calls were real. "It was not a scam, it was an intended message that was sent out, but it was supposed to be localized where the search was at," Winderweedlee said.

Some people got the call, others in the same household did not in some cases. Police say they’re using new software. "This is an updated new piece of software, implemented in September or October," Winderweedle said.

Police say the wrong filter got selected to send out the call. "That meant it went out to a bigger variety of people and not the specific intended half mile, or quarter mile radius that was the intended target," Winderweedle said.

Police say the little boy was found safe at a neighbor’s home.

Police say the number that will display for reverse 911 is: 770-513-5799. Police urge you to lock in that number to your contacts, so it does not show up as a possible scam.