Caller Tricks Richfield Woman Out Of $10K
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Officials are investigating after they say a scammer claiming to be a Hennepin County sheriff's deputy tricked a Richfield woman out of $10,000.
City authorities say the scam happened on April 16, when the woman got a call from a man claiming to be a deputy named Frank McCarthy.
The caller told the woman he was with the sheriff's office and had just pulled over a car with a large sum of counterfeit money and found identification that traced back to the woman's address.
The man asked if the woman had recently been to the bank. When she said yes, the caller had her read off the serial numbers from the bills she had recently withdrawn. The caller told the woman that those bills were also counterfeits.
He then asked her to participate in an undercover operation. The target would be an employee at a local Wells Fargo who was allegedly distributing fake cash.
The caller asked the woman to go into the bank and take out $25,000 and then meet him at a nearby Walgreens.
The woman was able to get $10,000 from the bank. She then met a man in the Walgreens parking lot who took the money and left.
Officials say the meeting was caught on surveillance, but the suspect is not identifiable in the video due to distance.
The suspect is only described as a man wearing a black shirt and black pants.
The telephone number the caller used traced back to the sheriff's office. Officials say he likely spoofed the number.