WCSO: FRAUD ALERT

FRAUD ALERT!
The Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office is issuing this Alert to remind our residents of some two recent scams that have been perpetrated here.

In the first incident, a county resident was contacted by someone she believed was her granddaughter who stated that she had been arrested out of state and needed bail money. The victim in this case made arrangements to send money electronically via a pre-paid gift card in the amount of $2,000.00 per the instructions she was provided. The victim later discovered that her granddaughter had not been arrested and then contacted the Sheriff’s Office to report the incident. The phone number used in this case comes back to Western Canada and attempts to reach anyone at this number have been unsuccessful.

In the second incident, a county resident was contacted after she offered an item for sale on-line. The would buyer made arrangements to purchase the item and then sent a check with an overage of almost one thousand dollars. The victim in this case was instructed to cash the entire check while keeping a little extra and sending the balance back to the buyer via an electronic wire transfer. After doing just this, the seller learned that the check was bogus and not only was she out the original item that she shipped (to what would be discovered to also be a bogus address), but is also out the additional money she sent to this scammer. During the investigation of this case, the investigating deputy attempted to contact the telephone number provided in this case and was able to reach a male subject who spoke broken English. When this subject learned he was speaking to a deputy, this subject replied “EXPLETIVE You” and hung up.

We would like to remind our residents to be cognizant of these types of activities. Please be very careful and selective when sending money because these crimes are very difficult to solve and it is believed many are originating from outside the country.