A reminder from police – this is a scam. The scams were named in a Top 10 list released this week by the Better Business Bureau. When a person calls that number, he or she is told to pay a certain amount or get arrested. Scammers are pretending to be government agents, lawyers, debt collectors, police officers. According to the BBB, “you should never have to pay money to claim a prize you have won”. They are actually hackers trying to steal money, passwords or damage computers with malicious software. The victim sends the fee for the nonexistent loan. The ads claim a job seeker can make good money while working from home stuffing envelopes, posting advertisements, or shipping packages. The scammer then drains the money from the account. “Sometimes you may be sent a check as partial payment, but the check will be counterfeit”. In one case, a man fell for it and shelled out $9,000.
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“In the fraud world, it’s high reward and low risk”, said Grady, whose unit includes MSP’s auto theft teams and fraud teams on the east and west side of the state. If you receive a call and are unsure as to its legitimacy, please contact our office or any other law enforcement agency for advice. “We’ve been working with the public to notify people about these scams and doing it through water bills and announcements at city council meetings – letting people know that these scams are out there and preventing them from being victimized by these criminals under the threat of being arrested or paying for a warrant that’s outstanding to avoid arrest”.
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“The sad thing is that these criminals tend to prey on the elderly population – good, honest, hardworking, trusting people and if you call and say you’re an official they’ll believe it”, Merchant said.
