Police Warn Residents Of Electronic Scams

In view of a local person having recently lost more than $1,000 as a victim of a financial scam that was conducted via telephone calls, police are warning residents to be wary of situations in which criminals attempt to swindle people via telephone calls, e-mail, and various correspondence.

Sergeant Aaron Bahamonde said this week that police are investigating a case in which an unidentified elderly woman was swindled out of more than $1,000 through a series of telephone calls during a weeklong period.

A family member of the victim realized what had happened to her and reported the matter to police, the sergeant said.

Most people ignore what they correctly perceive to be such scams, but sometimes people believe fraudulent information provided to them and become victims, Sgt Bahamonde said. Often, elderly people are the victims of such hoaxes, he said.

In such scams, the person contacting the potential victim via telephone, e-mail, or written correspondence often makes some promise that the person will receive a large sum of money provided that the person electronically sends to the caller an amount of money which would serve as a “deposit,” “processing fee,” or “sign of good faith.”

Sometimes additional payments are requested of the victim as “secure shipping” fees or “out-of-state transfer” fees.

Police said that many such scams are conducted via telephone or via the Internet from other countries, most typically Jamaica, Nigeria, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. The scammers often will ask that payments be sent electronically to places such as Florida, North Carolina, or California.     

Police said that people conducting such scams typically give very ordinary names and will be very gracious on the telephone in order to develop a rapport with the victims.

Police Officer William Chapman explains that because most such scams are conducted electronically, it makes the crimes difficult to investigate. If arrests are made, it could take years to recover lost money, if at all, according to Officer Chapman.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” he said.